An Australian Christmas collection: stories, sketches, essays

AN AUSTRALIAN

Christmas Coiiectio

y. F. HOG A

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AN AUSTRALIAN

Christmas Collection;

STORIES, SKETCHES, ESSAYS,

Jz\MES FRANCIS HOGAN.

MELBOURNE :

ALEX. M'KINLEY & CO., PRINTERS & PUBLISHERS

59 QUEEN STREET.

3. U

1886. . ,

?x

CONTENTS

ELLA GRAY : A CBRISIMAS STORY

LITTLE LOUEY ...

FLORA'S QUEST

THE STONE HUT

THE COMING AUSTRALIAN ...

DANIEL O'CONNELL

CARDINAL NE^VMAN...

CONCERNING CARDINALS...

CATHOLICITY IN AUSTRALIA...

AN AUSTRALIAN LITERARY TRIO

MELBOURNE'S EARLY RIVAL...

CONTEMPORARY IRELAND

DOWN IN A GOLD MINE

A VICTORIAN AIR TOWN

AN AUSTRALASIAN FESTIVAL

POPULAR LITERATURE ...

COMING TOGETHER ...

A PLEA FOR A BETTER MELBOURNE

A COUNTRY POLITICIAN

THE HAPPY VALLEY

1

18

... 33

44

... 55

66

... 72

80

... 91

104
... 114

129
... 141

150
... 157

165
... 176

183
... 190

195

^ M .:H t ■* f. " '^^ " D

PREFACE.

Christmas being, proveibially and traditionally the time
foj" family reunions, it is only in accord with the spirit
of the season that a writer should celebrate that great
festival by bringing together the scattered productions of
his pen, and placing them sociably side by side between
the covers of one book. This volume is, for the most
part, a selection, from my contributions to Australian
periodical and newspaper liteiature during the past few
years. The acknowledgment of my grateful appreciation is
due to the several hundred subscribers throughout the
colonies, who have done me the honour of ordering copies
of the book in advance of its publication.

F. HOG AN.

"The Argus" Office,

1st December, 1886.

ELLA GRAY.

A Christmas Story.
Forty years ago an Irish emigrant ship sailed into
Hobson's Bay, and strengthened the infant settlement
with an infusion of three hundred more souls. As she
dropped anchor off W illiamstown, her passengers
crowded her decks, engaged in animated conversation,
and surveyed the low semicircular shore with the blue-
clad mountains in the distance. On some of their faces
there was a look of eager expectancy, as if an inward
voice was assuring them of a successful future in the
boundless field for their energies that now opened up
before their wondering eyes ; others were calmly con-
templative, as if recollections of familiar scenes in the
" dear isle of the west" came thronging on their
memories, and mingled with their impressions of the
new sights that now surrounded them. In the crowd,
too, were to be seen some in whom hope was evidently
struggling with hesitation, and who were apparently
conjecturing within themselves what the future had in
store for them in this strange land. Standing out con-
spicuously from the main body of the passengers was
the figure of a tall, muscular young man, who, with
folded arms, was leaning against the bulwarks of the

2 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

Ocean Monarch, and looking intentl}'^ in the direction
of the collection of huts that then constituted the
nucleus of what is now the metropolis of Victoria. He
had that look of unconquerable determination in his
eye, that honest, manly exterior which is the best
certificate of character, a sound corporeal frame, capable
of withstanding fatigue and privation, and a trustful
countenance, beaming with intelligence and common-
sense, that pointed him out as an exemplar of the
true type of colonist for a young and undeveloped
country. That striking young man of 25 was Ormond
Gray, a junior member of an old Dublin family. His
adventurous disposition revolted at the idea of
treading slowly in the professional path that
his father had marked out for him ; his soul
had been fired by what he had read of the newly-
discovered lands in the great Southern continent,
and after a protracted struggle, he had succeeded in
gaining the paternal permission to emigrate to Port
Phillip. What impelled him all the more to this
decision was the brave desire to speedily build up a
home, not so much for himself as for the beloved of his
young affections, and the grief of the lovers' parting on
the deck of the emigrant ship was lessened, and almost
gladdened, by the thought that their separation would
be but for a time ; that the stalwart young Irishman
was only going before to prepare the way for the
amiable, attractive and graceful Irish maiden, and that
she would soon be sent for, so that her presence would
be as the sunshine in his Australian abode. Nor was
it long before the promise was fulfilled. Spurred on

ELLA GRA Y. 3

the ever-present image of the dear one at home, and by
his own fixed determination to succeed, Ormond Gray,
in less than a year from the day on which he sailed
into Hobson's Bay, had become a pastoral settler on a
splendid tract of land, stretching from the borders of the
Black Forest away for many miles to the west. The
homestead which he had established on a little hill, with
a running stream around its base, overlooked a wide
and richly -grassed area, dotted by his grazing flocks.
It had just been completed in time for the reception of
its young Irish mistress, and that was a day of pride
and rejoicing for Ormond Gray when he escorted his
newly-made bride from Melbourne, and placed her in
possession of Glenmore, a pretty name he had borrowed
from their native Hibernian soil to bestow on their new
Australian home. For a few years the emigrant couple
lived a life of almost primeval simplicity, adding to
their pastoral wealth, befriending all the poor blacks
in the neighbourhood, and hospitably welcoming the
occasional travellers who came their way. But a great
change was coming over the face of the silent land.
The exciting news of the discovery of gold had been
spread abroad, and crowds of travellers from every
country could be seen from Glenmore hurrying on their
way to the Bendigo diggings. Many of them soon
returned along the same route laden with the golden
treasures they had unearthed, and glad, indeed, they
were, if they succeeded in getting back to Melbourne
without being " bailed up" and despoiled, for the Black
Forest had now become the haunt of desperate bush-
rangers, who sallied forth from its darksome recesses,

4 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

carried dismay into the ranks of the returning diggers,
and not unfrequently added murder to pillage.

It was Christmas Eve, 1852, and the fiery rays of
the summer sun were lighting up the western face of a
granite peak that ascended abruptly to a height of 500
feet from the heart of the Black Forest. This huge
mass of rock has since been diligently studied by
geologists, both amateur and professional, who have
assured their less scientific acquaintances that it was
belched forth ages ago from the crater of the adjacent
Mount Macedon, when that now favourite summer
resort was a volcano in full activity. But at the time
of which we are now speaking, no man of science had
attempted to penetrate the dark and dense Black
Forest in order to solve the mystery of this solitary
peak. No sign whatever of human presence was
discernible there ; no indication of any inquisitive
visitor having attempted to scale the precipitous sides
of this towering mass of granite. It was the only
object that broke the blackness of the harsh and
forbidding forest. The thickly-clustered box and
stringy-bark trees came up to its very base, and
dashed their branches against its frowning sides, as
if resenting its intrusion on their domain. And yet,
grim and silent as it seemed on that summer
afternoon, the isolated peak in the forest was not
without its inhabitants. At an angle on its northern
side, if you forced your way through the tangled
undergrowth that environed a giant eucalyptus, you
would have discovered a rift in the granite wall
sufficiently wide to admit a man of ordinary size.

ELLA GRA Y. 5

Entering that previously invisible opening, you would
have found yourself in an irregular- shaped natural
chamber, with boulders of granite scattered about
on its floor, having apparently fallen from the
roof, a considerable height overhead. The farthest
wall of this strange apartment had so many rocky
projections that you saw at a glance the possibility
of climbing to a platform situated a little more than
half-way up to the roof ; and if you were adventurous
enough to attempt the feat and lucky enough to
perform it successfully, your intrepidity would have
been rewarded with a fresh discovery. You would
land on the threshold of a second and smaller cave,
commanding an extensive view of the forest through
a fissure in its western wall, which was now admitting
a bar of golden sunlight into the lofty rocky room.
This elevated natural observatory was tenanted by a
man, a woman and an infant. It had evidently been
used as a habitation for some time, and it was easily to
be seen that a gentle hand had been at work in an
effort, only moderately successful, to give a homelike
aspect to this mountain cave. Walking slowly up and
down the apartment, with her baby in her arms, the
young but prematurely-aged mother was a picture to
excite a tender sympathy. She was paying a terrible
penalty for a hasty marriage. She had been aroused
from a brief dream of happiness to find herself the wife
of an escaped ticket-of-leave man from across the
straits, but, deceived and degraded though she was,
she uttered no reproach against the husband of her
choice, she accepted her hard fate in silence, and, when

6 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

he was forced to fly from the haunts of men in order to
avoid being re-captured and sent back to a penal
colony, she devotedly clung to him, shared all his
dangers and privations, and now for six months had
occupied with him this unknown hiding-place in the
heart of the Black Forest.

In the corner of the cave, a well-built man in the full
prime and vigour of life was stooping over a " swag,"
whose contents he was rapidly turning out on the
floor. A loaded musket was standing by his side
against the wall, and the ends of two revolvers pro-
truded from his belt. A heap of various articles of
personal and domestic comfort, taken from the " swag"
that he was engaged in dissecting, had been cast aside
as if of no account ; but suddenly he started to his feet,
holding in one hand a small black bag. This he opened
with some difficulty, and his eyes sparkled with delight
as he gazed on the shining nuggets of gold with which
it was filled.

" Ha ha," he exclaimed, " I knew I would find some-
thing like you at last. I was certain the three new
chums I stuck up to-day had a nest-egg among them.
Look here, Alice, a thousand pounds' worth at the very
least."

" I cannot bear to see it, Henry," she replied. " Oh,
do give up this dreadful life, and come away from
this horrible place to some other land, where I am sure
we shall be happy again."

" So we shall, my dear, and as soon as we get a few
more windfalls like this lucky little bag, we will be
ready to start for America."

ELLA GRAY. 7

" But, Henry, can any luck attend money got in this
way. Let us leave everything here that does not
belong to us, and go away as we came, and commence
an honest life somewhere else. Do, for our little Ella's
sake."

She fell weeping on his shoulder, and her ill-fated
husband sadly shook his head, and looked into the
laughing eyes of his infant child.

"Alice," he said, " forgive me for having brought you
to this. Your love deserved a far different reward. And
yet I did my best to dissuade you, but you would insist
on accompanying me in my flight to this lonely and
desolate spot. Yes, I will take you out of it, and I care
not if I perish so long as you and little Ella are safe."

" Don't talk like that, Henry, I am sure there are
better days in store for us all."

" Would that I could honestly say I think the same,"
he sorrowfully replied. " Once outside this friendly
forest, the human bloodhounds will be on my track,
and in that race for life they have all the advantage
on their side. Yet, what have I done that they should
so hunt me down ? It is true, I have been preying on
my fellow-creatures of late, but my fellow-creatures
have only themselves to blame for that. If they had
let me earn an honest living as I wanted to do, they
would never have had reason to describe me as a des-
perate bushranger. But no, they could not let an un-
fortunate brother alone ; they must put the law in
motion against him ; they must have him arrested as
a ticket-of-leave man illegally at large ; and because
Henry Cardiff would not allow himself to be taken back

8 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

to the inhuman chain-gangs of Van Diemen's Land to
expiate an offence for which he had been transported,
but which he never committed, he is on this Christ-
mas Eve an outlawed fugitive in a mountain cave.
Whilst all the rest of God's creation is joyfully pre-
paring to celebrate the great festival, he and his hap-
less wife and innocent babe are chased into the
wilderness, and confined in this cheerless rocky cell.
Heavens ! is there such a thing as justice in the world
at all?"

As Henry Cardiff finished this recital of his wrongs
he threw himself in an agony of grief on the hard
floor of the cave. His faithful wife was by his side
in an instant, calming, comforting, and consoling him.

" Our lot is indeed a hard one," she said, '■' but all
will yet be well."

She had scarcely uttered these hopeful words when
the piercing cry of a curlew resounded three times
through the forest, and was heard distinctly in the
cave aloft. Cardiff jumped to his feet, and rushed for
his gun. " That's the danger signal, Alice," he cried ;
" courage now, it may be nothing." With blanched
face and palpitating heart the poor woman clasped her
infant to her breast, and cowered in a corner of the
cave.

The man gently dropped on the floor, and silently
worked his way along until he reached the opening in
the western wall, when, shading his eyes from the
fierce rays of the descending sun, he cautiously peered
out and descried through the trees six armed men
advancing in single file towards the peak, with a half-

ELLA GRAY. 9

naked aboriginal at their head. He saw it all at a
glance. Guided by a black tracker, the police had
succeeded in discovering his retreat. He knew that
the sharp-sighted aboriginal would speedily reveal the
entrance to the chamber below, and once there his
pursuers would probably scale the wall and carry the
cave by storm. Jumping to his feet, he turned to
his terrified wife and whispered, " They are upon us,
Alice ; we have not a moment to lose." From under-
neath a pile of clothes he pulled out a long coil of rope
with a noose at one of its ends, and placed it on the
brink of the cleft in the western wall. " Come, quick,
Alice," he cried, " you and the child must go down
first."

"Oh, Henry," she said, with an entreating look,
whilst her eyes filled with tears, " Do let me stop with
you to the last ?"

" No, no. It cannot be," he quickly answered. " I
must see you and my child safe out of this. Come,
now, place your foot in this noose. There, that's
right. Now, clasp little Ella tightly with one hand-
and keep a firm hold of the rope with the other, and
I will lower you safely to the ground. Don't look
down, it might make you giddy. When you find
yourself on the earth, hurry away through the forest
keeping the sun straight ahead of you, and in an hour
you will strike the open country, and see Ormon^l
Gray's homestead right in front. He and his wife are
kind and good, and the}'^ will shelter you for the night.
If all goes well with me, I wili rejoin you in the morn-
ing. Ha ! I hear them below. Come !"

10 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

He kissed his sobbing wife and the little infant.
She nervously clutched the rope, and he lowered it by
degrees down the face of the rock. At last it
slackened, and, bending over, he saw her standing
safely on the ground beneath, with her infant in her
arms. She gave one wild glance upwards, and then
rushed into the forest.

" Thank God, they are safe," was the ejaculation of
Henry Cardiff, as he rose to his feet. " Now to secure
my own escape."

Rapidly crossing ovor to the northern end of the cave,,
he took one of the revolvers from his belt, lay down
flat, and cast one glance into the chamber beneath.
One of his pursuers had climbed half-way up the wall^
and the others were just commencing, the ascent.
Levelling his revolver he fired at the foremost. The
man let go his hold, threw up his arms, and fell dead
on the floor, fifty feet below, with a bullet in his brain.
His comrades returned the fire but with no effect, for
the bushranger had retreated into the cave and was
now tying the end of the rope around a bulging piece
of rock in order to descend by its means into the
forest. Whilst thus engaged, he was suddenly and
silently pinioned from behind. The black tracker,
with the natural agility of his race, had swiftly scaled
the wall from the chamber below, and his bare feet
gave no indication of his approach as he entered the
cave and surprised the bushranger in his prepara-
tions for escape. A life-and-death struggle ensued
between the powerful white man and the strong and
.supple native. The latter did not relax his grip for

ELLA GRAY. H

an instant, whilst the former strained every nerve
to shake him off. As they struggled all over the cave,
the blackfellow gave utterance to hideous yells, and
the encouraging voices of the pursuers could be heard
at intervals coming nearer and nearer. Collecting all
his energies, the bushranger made one desperate effort
to free himself, and succeeded in throwing his dusky
assailant in a heap on the floor. He tried to draw his
revolver to despatch the now-quivering native, but he
was too late. Two of the police arrived at that instant
on the scene of the struggle and, firing simultaneously,
Henry Cardiff, the bushranger, fell to rise no more.

" Just in the nick of time," said one of the police-
men, and, turning to the blackfellow, he added, " Good
boy. Tommy. You had a narrow escape, but you made
a splendid fight of it. See here, Cardiff was fixing
that rope around the rock, and he would have slid
down the side of the mountain and got clean away into
the bush if Tommy hadn't tackled him and held him
until we managed to scramble up."

The other three pursuers now appeared ; a consulta-
tion was held ; the cave was searched in every part,
and all its contents seized, including the black bag of
golden nuggets that, a few minutes before, had so
elated the now inanimate bushranger. Descending
into the chamber beneath, they brought down the body
of the outlaw with them, resolving to remain there for
the night, and to return to Melbourne in the morning
with the bodies of their murdered comrade and the
desperate bushranger whose career they had brought
to a close.

12 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

All this time, unconscious of the tragic scene that
was being enacted in the place from which she had so
strangely escaped, Alice, with her infant clasped in her
arms, her face deadly pale, her eyes unnaturally
bright, her countenance dazed with the horror of her
situation, was hurrying on through the forest. She
took no heed of the long rank grass which now and
then impeded her steps; or the enormous boughs
that shot out into the sky over her head ; or the fallen
monarchs of the forest that lay strewn around, grand
And majestic even after their deposition; or the
rustling snakes that sidled away into their holes at
her approach ; or the grand chorus of evensong with
which the myriad birds were saluting the setting sun.
On, on, she went like one in a dream, guided aright
and saved from harm by that special Providence, which
seems to watch over those who are temporarily bereft
of a sense. The torrid sun had departed, but the whole
of the western sky was still suffused with a golden
glow as Alice emerged from the shades of the forest
into the open ground. The change of scene apparently
had the effect of arousing her from her dreamy con-
dition, for she stopped abruptly, and looked around in a
bewildered manner. Only one object could she discern
through the rosy luminous haze of the early evening —
a lofty building crowning the summit of a stretch of
rising ground a mile or two further on. It was the hos-
pitable homestead of Ormond Gray, and towards it the
unhappy woman now bent her steps. As she came
near to Glenmore, sounds of laughter and song fell on
her ears. The inhabitants of the men's quarters on

ELLA GRAY. 15

the station, both regular and casual, were commencing
to celebrate Christmas after their customary bois-
terous fashion. The young squatter and his wife were
sitting on a verandah of the homestead enjoying the
cool of the evening, when the sympathetic eye of Mrs.
Gray was attracted by the unwonted spectacle of a
solitary, dejected-looking woman, with a child in her
arms, approaching the house. Alice was met by the
kind-hearted lady of the homestead, conducted to a
room, and carefully attended to in every way that the
thoughtful consideration of the hostess could suggest.
She several times expressed her grateful thanks for
the tender treatment herself and her child had re-
ceived from the good strangers, but she could not be
induced to tell what had happened, or why she and
her little one were lonely wanderers on Christmas Eve.
All such questions she answered by sadly shaking her
head and saying, " My name is Alice, and my baby's
name is Ella, and we only want to stop here till
the morning." They saw she was tired and weary,
and so they left her with a hope that she would
sleep well and have a good night's rest. When Alice
was left alone, she lovingly put her little Ella to bed,
but she did not retire to rest herself She watched
until she saw her baby fall asleep, and then she silently
traversed the room from end to end for more than an
hour. A variety of thoughts were surging through
her tormented brain. All the incidents of that terrible
day came rushing on her recollection. The mountain
cave — the alarm signal — her escape down the side of
the rock — her husband remaining behind. What had

14 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION-.

l)ecoine of him ? Was he alive or dead. Should she
wait until the morning, or should she relieve her mind
hy learning the truth that very night ? Yes, she would.
She looked out of the window. There was moonlight.
She was certain she could find her way back through
the forest to the granite peak, and she need have no
anxiety now for the safety of her child, for little Ella
is sweetly slumbering under that friendly roof. Throw-
ing her cloak over her head and shoulders, she noise-
lessly opens the window and steps forth in the moon-
light. She passes the station boundaries without
being observed, and now she shudders as she enters
once more the awful, silent, shadowy forest. But hei
strength of purpose is not overturned by her momen-
tary fear. Summoning all her courage she dashes
in amongst the frowning trees but never loses sight
of that grey peak glistening in the moonlight
five miles away, and towering over the tops ^f
the highest eucalypts of them all. Undeterred
by the grim terrors of an Australian forest at night
— the indescribable sense of human solitude, the
strange, unaccountable sounds that are borne to the
startled ear, and the ghostly shapes which imagination
sees lurking behind or passing swiftly amongst the
trees, she holds on her perilous way, and now at last
she is nearing the end of that awful journey. She is
within the shadow of that solitary peak which had
been to her and to him a refuge for half-a-year. What
had happened during her absence ? She pauses and
breathes a prayer to Heaven for strength to hear and to
bear the worst. Then she hastens to the spot where she

ELLA GRAY. 15

had alighted in her descent from the cave a few hours,
before. She looks up, listens intently, but can hear
no sound from above. The hopeful thought flashes
through her mind that he also has descended success-
fully and would rejoin her, as he had promised, in
the morning. Then she remembers the lower chamber
of the peak, and with beating heart she proceeds
to ascertain whether there is any news in that quarter.
With the utmost caution she approaches the entrance,
she gives one glance into the interior, and that is all.
A wild shriek echoes through the forest, and a woman
falls insensible to the earth. For the lantern within
had revealed to her the recumbent form of her hus-
band rigid in death.

In addition to the bodies of the bushranger and the
unfortunate man who was killed in the encounter, the
police brought in to Melbourne on that Christmas
morning the seemingly lifeless form of a young, sad-
faced woman, whose agonising cry had so terrified
them on the previous night. Under medical treatment
she regained consciousness in a few days, but she was
not the same Alice as before. The shock had un-
seated her reason ; she was declared unfit to be at
large ; no one could be found who knew anything of her
history, or who would undertake to look after her, and

so she was sent to an asylum for the insane.

* * * * * '

Twenty years have come and gone, and Christmas is
once again at hand. In the lapse of two decades Glen-
more has become a more conspicuous object than ever
in the landscape, and time has but gently touched its

16 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

warm-hearted master and mistress. But there are
now two additional members of the household. That
well-favoured, thoughtful young man reading at his
ease on the verandah is the onl}'- child of Ormond
Gray, but who is his fair companion, that white-robed,
nice-looking example of budding womanhood by his
side ? He calls her " Ella," and with perfect propriety,
for she is the same little Ella whose infancy was so
strange and so troubled. Great was the surprise of
Ormond Gray and his wife when, on that Christmas
morning long ago, they found the little infant under
their roof alone, whilst the mother had disappeared
without leaving a trace behind. Nor in all the long
years that had since elapsed did they receive any
tidings of the mysterious, sad-faced woman with the
baby in her arms, who came to their homestead, from
they knew not where, at the close of that hot sum-
mer's day. But they conceived an ardent affection for
the lonely little innocent so unexpectedly left on their
hands ; they rejoiced in her growing girlhood, and in
the development of her good qualities of head and
heart ; and she became to them as the recognised
daughter of their house. And soon she was to become
their daughter in a still nearer and dearer sense, for
her life was about to be linked with that of their only
son, Clement. When that happy event did take place
in the course of a few months, the young couple
received, as a wedding gift from the generous Ormond
Gray, a branch station of his own, some forty miles
away. One morning, not long after her marriage, Ella
received an urgent message to come across to Glenmore,

ELLA GRAY. 17

and when she arrived at her old home she was met
by her good foster-mother with a sympathetic smile,
and told to prepare herself for a surprising piece of
news. By slow degrees she was allowed to learn that
her own natural mother, whom she had mourned as
gone from earth for ever, was alive and under that
very roof The meeting between the long-separated
Alice and Ella was a most affecting one. The white-
haired but still young-featured Alice had, after many
years' darkness of mind, recovered her reason, but her
memory was a blank. Only two words relating to
the past could she pronounce — " Ella" and " Glenmore"
— and it was their association that led to her timely
recognition, and her subsequent happy restoration to a
daughter's arms. Well, indeed, for all that the recol-
lection of that terrible time in the forest had been
providentially erased from the tablets of her brain, and
that the evening of an agitated life was not clouded
by the shadows of the past.

LITTLE LOUEY.

A Teacher's Story.
" By George ! it's grand. Who'd live in a city in
preference to a place like this ?"

And Arthur Moore, having sung an improvised
melody, and given utterance to this burst of admiration,
threw himself down in a shady place on the beach, and
we shortly followed his example.

We were a party of four young teachers, who had
taken advantage of the Christmas holidays to pay a
visit to Sorrento, in order to relieve the monotony of
school-life by a little innocent recreation amongst
the beauties of that popular resort.

Frank Kavanagh, who suggested the trip, although a
rather young man, was the head teacher of one of the
principal schools of the city, and his advancement in
his profession was entirely due to his own energy, zeal,
and natural ability. When a mere pupil teacher, he
was appointed to the charge of a distant country
school • but his superior talents became so manifest
that, after the lapse of a few years, he returned to
Melbourne at the head of his profession. He was very
popular with the little girls of his school, whom he
would always treat with the utmost kindness and
gentleness, a circumstance one could not avoid noticing,
as his mode of dealing with the boys was usually stern
and severe. He was a most genial companion, and a
particular favourite of his fellow-teachers, whom he

LITTLE L0UE7. 19

occasionally entertained with experiences of his life in
the bush.

Maurice Maguire was an assistant in a large school
in Fitzroy. He prided himself on being a " ladies' man."
He was good-looking, and he appeared to be aware of
the fact. Every morning he came to school " dressed
to kill," With hair parted in the middle, shirt-front
of spotless white, rendered all the more conspicuous by
a necktie of very " loud " colours, cuffs and studs dis-
played to the best advantage, he would walk into
school with an air that would lead you to believe that
he was about to attend the Governor's levee, or dance
in the first set at a vice-regal ball. No wonder all the
lady-teachers and the " big girls " who were finishing
their education said that " Mr, Maguire was really a
nice young man." To see him pass a copy-book to a
child in his class was a study, he did it with such
a refinement of manner and in so graceful an attitude .
and, when he had occasion to punish a youngster for
missing a lesson, you would almost imagine it a positive
pleasure to be caned by him, he performed the operation
in such a gentlemanly style. It may be mentioned as
a curious coincidence that, when school was dismissed
at four in the afternoon, it nearly always happened
that the lady-teachers and Mr, Maguire would leave
for home precisely at the same time, that they would
meet at the door at the same instant, and then one of
the ladies would be sure to propose a walk in the
Fitzroy Gardens. However, a fondness for feminine
admiration was Maurice Maguire's only fault ; he was
an excellent teacher and a general favourite.

20 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

Arthur Moore and myself were serving our appren-
ticeship as assistants in a large school situated in
Carlton, and we were consequently close companions.
Arthur was a quiet, unassuming young fellow, a
diligent student, and a conscientious teacher. He had
a great fondness for the theatre, and whenever a new
" star " appeared, he would not give me a moment's
peace until I had accompanied him to the city to see
the " illustrious stranger." This enthusiasm he often
carried to excess. I remember, on one occasion,
when we were studying hard for an examination that
was to be held in a day or two, a Signora Somebody,
the " gifted _?)rim(X donna" was announced to appear
and immediately my friend forgot all about the
examination in his anxiety to see and hear the
Signora. Coming into my room at dusk one evening when
I was preparing diligently for the approaching ordeal,
he exclaimed, " Oh, hang the examination ! Look here,
she has a magnificent voice ; you'll miss a treat if you
don't see her. Come, now, leave the books for to-
night !" I refused ; he persisted, and the upshot of it
was, that after spending an hour in argument and
remonstrance, I had to go to the Opera House with
him, and listen for two wearisome hours to the
Signora's unintelligible screaming. However, both
Arthur and myself passed the examination, and for
months afterwards, our visit to the Opera House was
a standing joke.

It was a great change for us, after being cooped up
in that huge cage called the city for weeks together, to
find ourselves breathing the pure, clear air of Sorrento.

LITTLE LOVE J. 21

So, when Arthur remarked, " Who'd live in a city in
preference to a place like this ?" we were all inclined to
re-echo the sentiment, except Maurice Maguire.

" I don't know about that," said he ; " it's all very
well for a day or so, but to be always gazing on the
waves and the gum-trees does not suit me exactly."

" Quite so, Maguire," said Arthur Moore. " What
suits you exactly is gazing on the petticoats in Collins-
street."

This sally was followed by a laugh at the expense of
the " ladies' man."

" Well, Moore," retorted Maguire, " even that's not
quite so bad as to be always gaziog on the stars^

This sharp rejoinder, and the pun on the word
" stars," evidently an allusion to Arthur's love for the
theatre, turned the laugh in an opposite direction."

" Both the bush and the city have their advantages,'
remarked Frank Kavanagh when the laugh had sub-
sided ; " in the former you have time and opportunities
for deep, close study, in the latter you can enjoy the
benefits of intellectual companionship and literary
association."

" Talking of the bush, Frank," said Arthur Moore,
" do you remember that affecting little story you told
me some time ago ?" I assure you I have often thought
of it since, and the mere recollection of it has brought
tears to my eyes. You might repeat it if you have no
objection, as we have two friends present. I'm sure
they'd like to hear it !"

I was watching Frank while Arthur was uttering
these words, and was astonished at the change that

22 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

came over his countenance. He suddenly became pale ;
the expression of his face denoted great pain, and his
eyes gradually assumed that dreamy appearance which
indicates that the mind is dwelling on some sorrowful
event of the past. This sudden change in the
demeanour of my friend excited my curiosity ; he was
not of an emotional temperament, and it must have
been something very unusual indeed that could have
betrayed him into exhibiting such signs of weakness.
I saw that he would rather not allude to the subject
that had been referred to by Arthur, but my curiosity
was aroused to a very high pitch, and, heedless of the
pain it would evidently cause him, I pressed him again
and again. At length he consented, and proceeded to
tell us the story of

Little Louey.

" You must have noticed, my friends," he commenced,
" that in whatever school or class you happen to be
teaching, there is always some particular pupil in whom
you take a peculiar interest — one that has either en-
gaged your affections or won your admiration and
esteem — in other words, each of us has a ' little pet.'
At least, that has always been my experience. I have
taught in many schools, and in every one of them I had
a favourite. You cannot avoid it even if you wished,
and the little story I shall tell you recalls an event that
is inseparably associated in my mind with these unex-
plainable preferences ; it relates the tragic fate of one
of my little favourites.

" You remember, when I was a very young teacher,
I was suddenly transferred from the city to a little

LIITLE LOUEY. 23

school in the country. It was called promotion, and
when I grumbled I was reminded that it was ' better
to be first in an Iberian village than second in Rome/
but I could not bring myself to see the matter in that
light. However, all my objections were overruled, and
I had to pack up, turn my back upon my beloved

Melbourne, and make the best of my way to well,

it is not the real name, but I'll call it Arcadia. On
arriving at the scene of my future labours, I began to
feel terribly lonesome. Being so accustomed to the
crowded thoroughfares of the city, the contrast with
the almost primeval solitude of my new abode made
me feel very uncomfortable. I naturally first turned
my steps in the direction of the school, which I found
to be a pretty little brick building capable of holding
about fifty children. It was situated amidst romantic
scenery. Immediately in front an isolated peak rose
by degrees to a height of fifteen hundred feet ; half-
way up its sides the patient industry ofthe farmer had
cleared and cultivated the soil, whilst the remainder of
its surface up to the summit was thickly timbered.
On the opposite side of this hill, I was informed, the
great majority of the farmers had their selections.
Behind the school was one dense mass of apparently
impenetrable forest, stretching from north to south, and
away to the west as far as the eye could reach. I was
told that, through the forest or ' ranges/ to use the
language of the bush, there was one road or ' track,' as
it was more commonly called, leading to the mining
township of Quartzville, which was buried in the bush
about seven miles from Arcadia. There was such an

24 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

air of quietness and repose over the whole scene, so
entirely different to all my experiences of city life, that
the fit of homesickness gradually departed, and I said
to myself, ' Well, this is not such a bad place after all !
I think I can spend a few years here very profitably,
and very pleasurably too. Anyhow, it will be a change
from city life.'

" On the Monday morning following my arrival, I
commenced work. Before the children assembled, I
was looking over the rolls and examining the books of
my predecessor, when I heard a light footstep at the
door, and there entered a little girl, upon whom I
gazed in rapture for several minutes. I thought I
never beheld such an attractive little creature
before. My first feeling was one of astonishment —
astonishment at beholding such a beautiful girl amidst
such rude surroundings. The moment I cast my eyes
upon her, I knew at once who was to be my favourite
in Arcadia. She could not be more than nine years of
age, and there was an aspect of guileless simplicity
about her, that immediately endeared her to me. Her
face was the face of an angel ; its expression was so
soft and mild that it actually fascinated me ; her bright
blue eyes were so transparently clear that they betrayed
every emotion of her mind ; her fair hair hung in
tresses down her shoulders, adding to her attractiveness,
and the modest plainness of her attire lent an additional
charm to her appearance.

" On speaking to her, I found, as I expected, that she
was very shy ; but I conversed with her so familiarly
that her shyness soon wore off. I was not long in

LITTLE LOUEY. 25

discovering that she was the only daughter of a well-
to-do farmer, and was known and beloved through the
length and breadth of Arcadia, The people were never
tired of speaking of and praising ' Little Louey,' as she
was affectionately called. Before long I discovered that
to the numerous graces of her person were added many
superior qualities of the mind. She had a most
astonishing memory, and could learn with singular
ease and quickness. I have never known a little child
who was so diligent and painstaking as ' Little Louey.'
She appeared to delight in learning ; I do not think
that she ever missed a lesson that was marked for her.
She was undoubtedly the most surprising little prodigy
I have ever met with.

" As time rolled on ' Little Louey' and myself became
fast friends. Every morning when she would catch
sight of me coming, she would run down the road to
meet me and bid me ' Good morning,' and accompany
me to the school. I had become so fond of my little
pet that (I dare say you will be surprised to hear it) I
rarely gave the city of Melbourne a thought, and had no
wish whatever to return to it. I began to delight in
giving instruction to the simple little country children,
they were so different from the vicious little rascals we
have to deal with in the city. The charms of rustic
life had completely conquered me, and I did not care
what was going on in the outside world. I got a
newspaper occasionally, which I would carry up to a
seat beneath a favourite tree on the top of the hill
facing the school, and from my lofty elevation would
read with calm indifference of occurrences that were

26 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

agitating, not only the city, but the colony at large.
These delights of rustic life continued for a period of
two years, a period which I shall ever look back to as
the happiest of my life. My fondness for ' Littl*
Louey' increased day by day, and her affection for her
teacher increased in the same proportion. She had
now attained the age of eleven, but her additional
years had not impaired the angelic innocence and sim-
plicity that charmed me at the first moment I met her.
She had advanced in her studies to an astonishing
degree for a child of her age, and I was looking forward
to a brilliant career for her, when an event occurred
that dashed all my hopes to the ground, and brought
sorrow and gloom on the hearts and homes of Arcadia,
" It was a bright sunny day in March. I
remember the day ~ well. Can I ever forget it ? I
started for school as usual that morning, and was
expecting to see ' Little Louey' coming to meet me as
was her wont. But, as I approached, not a glimpse of
her could I see. I was amazed ; such a thing had never
occurred before. Was she ill ? Perhaps something
had detained her, and she would come in the course of
the forenoon. I tried to account for her absence in this
manner, but I could not shake off an uneasy feeling
that something evil had happened. The forenoon
appeared a year long in the absence of my little
favourite ; but, in the afternoon, when I saw the seat
she occupied again vacant, her continued absence, and
the suspense it occasioned, kept me in a state of excite-
ment I could not control, and finding that I could not
keep my attention fixed on the work of the school, I

LITTLE LOUEY. 27

dismissed early, with the intention of setting off at
once for the house of ' Little LoueyV parents, and
ascertaining the cause of her extraordinary absence. I
was j ust locking up and preparing to start, when I saw
her mother coming up the road, and, hastening to meet
her, I immediately put the question — ' What's become
of Louey ?'

" ' That's the very thing I've come about,' she replied ;
' she hasn't been home to dinner, and I've come to see
what's kept her.'

" ' Not home to dinner V said I ; ' why, she was not
at school at all this morning.'

" ' What's that V And the poor woman's face became
deadly pale. ' Not at school this morning ! Good
God ! what's become of my little darling ?'

" ' Are you sure you sent her to school this morning T
I asked.

" ' Sure ! Don't you know, Mr. Kavanagh, she
couldn't be kept a day from school V

'" I do ! What's to be done ?'

" The startling news I had just heard threw me into
a state of utter helplessness. I was powerless to think
or to act,

" ' Let us not waste time,' she said, bearing up with
wonderful fortitude, though I thought every instant
she would faint. ' Let us not waste time ; she must
be lost ; we'll arouse the country, and commence to
search at once.'

" Immediately the news spread like wild fire that
' Little Louey' was lost, and in less than an hour more
than two hundred men from all parts of the district

28 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

were gathered together in the township, ready and
anxious to commence a search for the little pet of
Arcadia.

" Enquiries soon made it very clear that ' Little
Louey' was lost in the bush. It appeared that, on
coming to school in the morning she had been over-
taken by a farmer and his wife who were journeying
to the market of Quartzville. They prevailed on her
to take a seat in their conveyance for a little ride,
saying they would let her down not far from the school.
She told them on no account must she be late for
school ; Mr. Kavanagh would be very angry. They
laughingly said there was no fear of that, she would be
-at the school long before Mr. Kavanagh came. At a
point of the road near the school ' Little Louey' got
down, and no one had seen her since then. These
particulars were obtained from the farmer and his wife,
who returned from Quartzville about five in the after-
noon, and their anguish at finding that ' Little Louey'
was lost through their fault was pitiable to witness.

The sun was just setting, and the giant gum-trees
were throwing their long shadows on the hill in front
of the school, when we commenced the search for our
little favourite. The farmer who had given ' Little
Louey' the ride in the morning guided us to the place
where she had got down. There we divided into four
parties, so as to search the bush in every direction.

"Oh, how the events of that night are engraved
on my memory ! Through the long weary hours we
toiled painfully through the tangled underwood, in
«ome places forcing ourselves through intertwisted

LITTLE L0UE7. 2^

branches, searching the gullies, and clambering up
the wooded heights. There was no moon to assist u&
in our search, and the tremulous light of a few solitary-
stars only made the darkness above all the more
sensible. Each of us carried a torch, and the flickering
lights as they now were obscured by the dense under-
growth and again shone forth, illuminating the forest^
together with the constant hallooing that re-echoed
through range and gully, made up a scene which can
never be effaced from my memory. The hares, on
whose bodies we occasionally trod, would run away
and survey us from a distance, wondering, no doubt,
what strange beings were those who had intruded on
their domain at that unearthly hour. The glare of the
torches awoke the laughing-jackasses, who on every
bough saluted us with their monotonous cacchination,
a/S if the doleful mission on which we were employed
was to them a source of infinite pleasure. At intervals
a solitary curlew would spring from under our feet
and, uttering its prolonged melancholy wail, would fly
swiftly away. Often have I lain awake and heard the
plaintive note of the curlew echoing through the silence
of the night like a wail from the regions of the dead ;
but on this particular night every time it resounded in
my ears it made the blood freeze in my veins.

" Through the long hours of the night we searched
the bush, waking the echoes with our shouts, but with-
out getting the slightest trace of ' Little Louey.' Not
even a vestige of her dress did we discover. Towards
daybreak we decided on returning to Arcadia, in order
to ascertain whether any of the other parties had

30 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

obtained a clue to the whereabouts of the lost one. To
our dismay they all had the same sad story as ourselves
to tell. Their search had been fruitless. After a brief
respite all the people went forth again into the recesses
of the forest, but were forced to return with sorrowing
hearts to the village without having discovered a
solitary footstep of the little wanderer. On the third
day the search was resumed once more in every direc-
tion. Our party climbed the steepest of thickly-
timbered ranges and descended into the deepest of
fern- clad gullies, but all our efforts were unrewarded.
Just as the daylight was departing I was walking along
mechanically in a state of mind bordering upon stupe-
faction, when I was suddenly aroused by a piercing
cry from a man who was a little in advance. I hurried
forward and — good heavens ! — what a spectacle met
my eyes. There, lying at the foot of an immense tree,
whose giant arms were extended as if to shield her
from danger, her books by her side and her slate
grasped in her right hand, with the same angelic smile
upon her features, was the object of our search, ' Little
Louey.' In a state of mind impossible to describe, I
approached the tree beneath which she lay. All my
efforts to awake her were vain, and, when I touched
the cheeks that I had seen so often glowing with life
and health, 1 realised the sad truth — 'Little Louey'
was dead. I took up her books and slate, and we
carried her to the township,

" Two days afterwards she was buried in the little
country cemetery. Old and young for miles around
came to attend her funeral. The grief of her little

LITTLE LOUEY. 31

playmates was sad to witness, and, for a long time
after, you could tell by their faces that some great
calamity had visited them.

" One evening, about a week after the funeral, I was
walking up and down thinking of the melancholy fate
of my little pet, when I suddenly remembered the books
and slate I had found near her body under the tree in
the bush. I had put them aside, and until then had
not given them a thought. On taking up the slate I
thought I could detect some writing, and on scanning
it more closely I saw my conjecture was correct.
Though effaced in parts by the night dew, I could make
out the following : —

" ' I am so tired. I have been ivalldng through the
forest all day and I canH get out Oh, ivhat tvill
onamma say, and Mr. Kavanagh will be so angry. I
will rest awhile, and then once more try to get home.
— LouEY.'

The poor little creature had no idea of the fate that was
so soon to overtake her. She lay down to rest, but it
was to rest for ever.

" After this melancholy event I tried to resume work
in the school, but I soon found I could not do it. Every
time I glanced at the place where she used to sit, all
the recollections of my little favourite would come
thronging on my memory, and bring the tears to my
eyes. I was, therefore in a sense, glad when I received
the offer of an appointment in the city, for I was
anxious to quit a place that now was so full of sorrowful
associations.

" Yes, I removed to the city, and I still dwell there.

32 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

as you know ; but, despite its noise and bustle, despite
the hundreds of allurements that surround me with
their glittering attractions, though ' the tides of life go
ebbing and flowing' around me, though success haa
attended my professional career and ambition beckons,
me onward, still, notwithstanding them all, my
thoughts love to wander far away to a little country
cemetery, which contains a little grave, at whose head
is a little stone, on which is inscribed the name of
' Little Louey.'

" Years have elapsed, my friends, since this episode
occurred, but the little grave has not been forgotten or
neglected by the people of Arcadia. The little children
will not allow a weed to grow there, and no matter at
what season of the year you visit it, you will be certain
to find it decked wilh flowers.

" Whenever I get an opportunity I love to revisit
Arcadia, and I never do so without also paying p. visit
to the grave of my dearest favourite, my beloved pupils
that angel child, once on earth, but now in heaven,
'Little Louey.'"

FLORA'S QUEST.

A Doctor's Story.
It is now some years, said the doctor, as he fixed him-
self comfortably in the arm-chair and glanced around
on his assembled guests — it is now some years since I
was one of the resident medical officers of the Mel-
bourne Hospital. Like most young doctors who have
just obtained their degree, I was desirous of gaining
some experience in hospital practice before making the
acquaintance of the general public ; and, therefore,
when I heard that a vacancy had occurred in the
medical staff of the hospital, I immediately applied and
received the appointment. The year I spent within
the walls of that institution I have never regretted ;
for, although I had to work almost unceasingly and
endure the innumerable petty annoyances which seem
to be the common lot of hospital doctors, still I acquired
a considerable amount of valuable knowledge in the
practical part of my profession, and — what I
particularly delight in — had many opportunities of
studying the various phases of human character. You
have no idea of the number of strange individuals —
" curious cases," as the faculty term them — that I
examined and prescribed for during that year. If I

34 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

had time, I flatter myself I could write an entertaining
book on my hospital experiences. There is not a
building in this colony, I verily believe, in connection
with which so many touching stories and thrilling
anecdotes might be told as the Melbourne Hospital. It
is a veritable land of unknown romance in the heart of
the prosaic city. Thousands pass daily by that universal
temple dedicated to suffering humanity, that isthmus
connecting the land of the living with the world
beyond the grave, and are so wrapped up in schemes of
business or pleasure as never to heed the sublime
lessons of charity its walls are continually teaching.
How often have I had occasion to reflect on the
unalloyed selfishness, the total absence of sympathy for
the suffering, and the utter neglect of practical
Christianity that make up the character of your
average nineteenth-century Christian ! Often have I
looked down from a window in one of the upper
57ards, and seen parties of gaily-dressed, loud-laughing
people on their way to admire the latest picture added
to the National Gallery, and conducting themselves in
a sort of careless, fashionable levity, as if sickness and
sorrow had no existence in this world of ours — never
bestowing a thought on the hundreds of fellow-creatures
that were moaning in agony in that ])ile of buildings
a few yards from their pompous, perfumed, and
bejewelled persons. And then, when I happened to be
on night duty, when the gas in the ward was turned
down low, when those of my patients who were so
fortunate as to have been visited by "Nature's
sweet restorer, balmy bleep," were lying in

FLORA'S QUEST. 35

temporary forgetfulness of their miseries ; whilst
others, not so fortunate, were either painfully
struggling with a pitiless cough, or tossing about
in sleepless agony ; how have I been startled, long after
the midnight hour, at hearing the riotous jests and
ribald songs of groups of fast young men of the city,
passing under the hospital windows on their way to
their homes in Carlton ! How have their jovial cries
and reckless behaviour contrasted with the scene pre-
sented by that dimly-lighted ward ! Ah, there is very
little practical religion in the world, after all ; and the
fine old adage, " Charity begins at home," is almost
forgotten, or, at least, but little regarded by most of us.
With what kindly solicitude are the wants of foreign
heathens attended to, whilst our own brethren lying in
hospital wards are treated with comparative indiffer-
ence. See how hundreds of pounds sterling are
annually raised to provide flannel waistcoats and moral
pocket-handkerchiefs for the South Sea Islanders,
whilst those Christians who are so enthusiastic in
their zeal for the propagation of the gospel in distant
climes cannot afford a few shillings to add to the
comfort of their hapless fellow-beings in the crowded
hospital ! Believe me, man's inhumanity to man is
something more than a mere sentiment — it is a stern
reality, and Robert Burns did not paint the picture in
colours too black. But, bless me, I meant to tell you a
story, and here I am, preaching a sermon which, though
very proper in the mouth of a doctor of divinity, must
seem rather strange coming from a doctor of medicine ;
so, without further preface, I will endeavour to describe

36 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

an incident in my hospital practice that affected me

deeply at the time of its occurrence.

*****

It was a popular holiday, and having obtained leave
of absence for the day, I went with a party of friends
on a little excursion. At sunset we returned to the city
as I had to go on night duty at seven o'clock. Entering
the hospital at that hour, I put the usual question to
the porter — " Well, Thompson, anything fresh to-day ?"

" Nothing out of the common, sir ; a girl brought
in about an hour ago. Dr. B. ordered her into your
ward. He says she's hopeless."

I immediately went up-stairs to examine my new
patient. She had fallen into a troubled sleep, and one
glance was sufficient to convince me that it was only
the prelude to the long, silent sleep of the grave. Her
case was, beyond doubt, hopeless. Those sunken and
contracted features, though still retaining a faint
indication of erstwhile beauty, presented unmistakable
evidence of the merciless attacks of fell consumption ;
whilst the hectic flush on each cheek, contrasting so
painfully with the deathly pallor of the rest of the face,
announced the approaching end. Yet her brain was
singularly active, and her mind was apparently
wandering in distant scenes. At intervals she would
give utterance to expressions of hope and fear for the
safety of some loved one, and then her voice would
die away into a melancholy cadence, until aroused
again by another train of thought. Altogether, she
seemed to be a rather interesting patient, and I
mentally resolved to ascertain, if possible, a little of

FLORA'S QUEST. 37

her history. Opening the " Patients' Register," I
glanced through the formal entry of her admittance,
and found that her name was Flora Davis,

Well, after the lapse of an hour she awoke, and looked
around her with an expression of bewilderment, as if
she was trying to remember where she was. Then she
gradually collected her thoughts, and her face began to
assume an aspect of calm resignation ; but, as I
approached, she turned her eyes on me with a
sino-ularly plaintive expression, a sort of indescribable
lono-ing, as if she would die without a murmur if some
overwhelming desire of her heart were satisfied. I
inquired as to how she felt, and did all I possibly
could to alleviate her sufferings. In a short time she
told me she was a little better, and then asked me if I
thouo-ht she would recover. With those mournful
eyes looking up into mine with such an appealing
glance, I could not tell her what I sincerely believed,
and therefore evaded a direct answer by advising her
to hope for the best.

" Ah !" she replied, " I am afraid I will never travel
about any more."

" And have you travelled much ?" I asked.

" A great deal, sir ; far more than you would
imagine I would be capable of doing from my present
forlorn appearance."

" That was very foolish on your part," I said
" Health is the best treasure, and you should have
taken more care of yours."

'■' Ah, sir, if you knew the story of my life, you w^ould
not call me foolish."

38 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

" Pardon me if I have hurt your feelings ; I did not
mean to do so."

" Oh, no offence, sir ; but, if you wish, I'll try to tell
you how it is that I am an inmate of the Melbourne
Hospital to-night."

And, drawing a chair to the bedside of my confiding

patient, I listened with conflicting emotions to the

affecting story of " Flora's Quest."

*****

" I was born in the city of Waterford, in the south of
Ireland, where my father carried on an extensive
business as a merchant. Having had the misfortune
to lose my mother at an early age, my girlish days
were, for the most part, spent in a boarding-school.
At sixteen I had finished my education, and, returning
home, I desired to assume the management of my father's
household, but he would hear of nothing of the kind.
He besought me to remember my station, and was con-
tinually expressing his anxiety to see me take my
place in society. In compliance with his wishes,
though nothing could have been more contrary to my
own desires, I accepted the invitations of the principal
families of the neighbourhood, attended every fashion-
able gathering in the county, and was flattered by
some, envied by others, and criticised by all, until I
felt heartily sick of moving in the selfish, deceitful
throng. What a hollow mockery ' society' is, to-
be-sure ! To be hypocritically praised if you
have money and good looks, and contemptuously
ignored if you have not. Such is your certain fate in
' society !'

FLORA'S QUEST. 39

" Ah, well ! in a short time I had a more worthy object
than ' society' to occupy my thoughts. In my father's
office there was a young man holding a high position,
and accident having at first brought us into contact,
we afterwards met frequently, and a mutual attach-
ment was the result, Gerald Keeley had so many
superior qualities of head and heart that his com-
panionship was delightful to me, and he was such a
contrast to the fashionable fools I had met with in
' society.' My father did not seem to be aware of the
true state of my feelings, for he was constantly urging
me to select one of my numerous wealthy and dis-
tinguished suitors, and, when he was informed of the
choice I had made, his anger knew no bounds. Gerald
was summarily dismissed, and warned never to be
seen near the place again. My liberty was almost
taken from me for a time, yet I contrived to obtain
one last interview with Gerald. He would listen to
no proposal that might have the effect of causing me
the slightest trouble or inconvenience. His mind was
made up ; he would go to Australia, where, he said,
men were making their fortunes on the gold-fields, and
in a few years he would return with ten times the
wealth of the richest of my suitors. We then arranged
a plan by which we could correspond without danger
of our letters being intercepted. With a final promise
to be true to each other — a promise witnessed by the
silent stars above, and repeated by the whispering
leaves around — we parted for the last time — yes, we
parted for ever !

" Oh ! the loneliness and the heart-sickness of the

40 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

weeks that followed Gerald's departure ! How I
missed his genial companionship, his gladdening smile,
and the fascinating music of his voice ! Six months
after our parting, I received his first letter, dated from
Ballarat. In it he told me all the particulars of his
voyage, and how he had arrived safely in Melbourne,
and how he and three others had formed a party to
proceed to the Ballarat diggings, and how they had
just commenced their search for gold. Gerald's second
letter reached me shortly afterwards, and I was over-
joyed at the good news it contained. His party had
come upon gold, and they were all delighted with their
prospects. He said he would soon be home — much
sooner than he had at first expected ; and then he drew
such a charming picture of our future happiness. How
that letter revived my drooping spirits and animated
my fading hopes ! The bright picture of bliss that
Gerald had conjured up filled my thoughts both night
and da3^ Everything around seemed to participate in
my joy — the song of the birds became sweeter, the
hues of the flowers more brilliant, and the glorious
moon illumined with a mellower light the familiar
scenes on which at even I delighted to gaze. But,
alas ! my joy was short-lived. A third letter came ;
and how shall I describe the anguish with which I
read it ? It was very short — only a few lines ; but
what a world of misery those few lines contained !
Gerald had met with a terrible accident when in the
full tide of his success ; he had fallen down the shaft
and seriously injured his head; fever had supervened,
and, at the time the letter was written, he was lying

FLORA'S QUEST. 41

in a most critical condition. Oh, what a fearful
awakening from my blissful dreams ! How our air-
built castles were rudely overturned by this unex-
pected shock! Ah, we entirely forgot that ' Man
proposes, but God disposes.'

" The receipt of this sad intelligence must have
deprived me of my powers of reason, for in no other
way can I account for my subsequent actions. I
mechanically prepared to undertake the lengthiest of
journeys, possessed myself of whatever money was at
my command, and quitted my father's house without
speaking to a single soul. T cannot remember to this
day how I got to Dublin and crossed over to Liverpool,
and it was only when I found myself at sea on board
the Atlas, bound for Melbourne, that I could reason
calmly and quietly. Until then, the thought of Gerald
suffering in a strange land haunted my brain, and I
could think of nothing but how to get to him as
quickly as possible. Gradually I began to reflect on
the thoughtlessness of my conduct. Months must
elapse before my eyes would behold the shores of
Australia, and, by that time, was it not almost certain
that my presence would be utterly useless ? But this
feeling only lasted for a moment. Again, the picture
of Gerald languishing on a sick-bed, without a friend
to succour him, rose vividly before me and dispelled all
doubts.

" All went well with us during the voyage. The
weather was most propitious, and the many kindly
words and little courtesies of my fellow-passengers
helped to relieve my mind of the weight of anxiety

42 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

that was oppressing it. In due course we arrived at
Melbourne, and, agitated by conflicting feelings of hope
and fc^]', I left without delay for Ballarat. As I
approached the scenes described by Gerald in his letters,,
the agony of suspense became almost insupportable. I
tried to calm my mind and prepare myself for the
worst, but the effort was unavailing, and I reached the
diggings in a state of anxiety almost impossible to
imagine. On inquiry, I soon found where Gerald's
party was at work. The man who was employed on
the surface looked at me in amazement as I approached ;„
and, no wonder, for my appearance must have been
unaccountably strange. Very likely he thought I was
mad. Unable to control my excited feelings, I immedi-
ately asked the question that was so long on my lips,-
and in the answer to which my whole being was bound
up — ' Where is Gerald V

" ' Gerald !' he replied ; ' do you mean Gerald Keeley?
Poor fellow ! he died — '

" I heard no more. The brightness of day suddenly
changed into the darkness of midnight. A dreamy
blankness overwhelmed me and I lost all consciousness.
When I regained my senses, I found myself amongst
strangers in the city of Melbourne. They told me I
was brought from Ballarat a fortnight previously in a-
fever of delirium, and that my mind had been wander-
ing ever since. I recovered by slow degrees, but, when
the fever had left me, I was prostrated by a worse enemy
— consumption. I was advised to embark for home at
once, but my strength gradually failed, my little
stock of money was soon gone ; and now you know

FLORA'S QUEST. 4 a

why I am an inmate of the Melbourne Hospital
to-nijjht."

There was a painful silence in the room as the
doctor finished his pathetic story. After a pause, he
added — " She lingered for a few weeks, and her death
was painless. 'A good woman gone from earth to

Heaven,' were the words of Father L as she

breathed her last, and I believe him,"

THE STONE HUT.

A Miner's Story.
In one of the Christmas numbers of the Australasian
Sketcher there is a speaking dramatic picture, in three
acts, of the birth, life and death of a colonial mining
township. The first scene is laid in the heart of a dense
forest, and discloses three adventurous prospectors
engaged in washing the subterranean stuff obtained
from the shaft in the background, where the windlass
stands in relief against the surrounding foliage. A
rude tent, almost hidden from view by the exuberant
vegetation, is the only human abode to be seen. From
their excited looks, as they bend over the tin-dish, and
eagerly survey the results of the washing process, it is
evident that the men have obtained a good prospect,
that they have alighted on rich ground, and are in
a fair way of making a fortune. They, no doubt,
instantly determine to make a secret of their good luck,
and not to breathe a word of their success to mortal
ears. But the thrilling news cannot be concealed, the
secret cannot be kept, and the result is that scene one
is hurried off the stage, and scene two is unfolded to
our view. And what a change! From the peaceful
solitude of the primeval forest we are transported into
the midst of a bustling scene. The wondrous intelli-
gence has gone abroad, and a " rush " has set in. Trees

THE STONE HUT. 4&

are cut down indiscriminately to make room for tents,
stores and hotels ; a heterogeneous mass of humanity
appears on the scene — men of all nations equipped
with weapons to make war on the earth and rob it of
its auriferous treasures. In the foreground we observe
a group of gold-seekers discussing their probable
fortunes, whilst far in the distance extends a line of
shafts, in which hard work and not discussion is the
order of the day. Truly, one would be inclined to
philosophise, here is the nucleus of a thriving, busy
city ! But again the scene changes ! The third and
last view of the goldfield is presented to our gaze, and
a dismal view it is —

" All the bloomy flush of life is fled."
The ground is worked out, its mineral deposits are
exhausted, and there is no inducement for money-
loving man to remain. A new rush is reported, tents
are hastily taken down, mining implements packed up,
and the erstwhile busy township becomes a dreary
waste, with naught save a few chimneys or the frame-
works of dilapidated dwellings to tell of its former
existence.

Such has been the painful experience of many colonial
ephemeral townships, whose names even have now
faded from recollection ; and though Marathon has not
entirely ceased to exist, its end is approaching rapidly.
At one time Marathon was one of the richest goldfields
in Victoria, and had a large mining population, but its
gold supply decreased year by year, and the impor-
tance of the place diminished in the same proportion ,
Its original name was Moonlight Creek, but as people

46 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

who rise in the world endeavour to remove all evidence
of their former obscurity, so Moonlight Creek, when
gold became abundant and general prosperity reigned,
determined, in its short-sighted pride, to change its
name. Accordingly, it was officially proclaimed that
in future, Moonlight Creek would be known by the
classical name of Marathon. But, after all, it must not
be censured for changing its name ; that is precisely
what every young lady is most anxious to do when the
opportunity presents itself — besides, other places have
been guilty of the same offence, if such it be. Bendigo
Creek, we all know, has blossomed into the city of
Sandhurst ; Fiery Creek has assumed the aristocratic
name of Beaufort ; Jim Crow has developed into the
more euphonious Daylesford, and Stringer's Creek has
now the romantic appellation of Walhalla. So we see
that Moonlight Creek sinned in good company when it
changed its name.

Marathon is a place I love to visit. One feels a sort
of melancholy interest in wandering over a scene now
deserted, but which was once crowded with people
whose e very-day dream was one of sudden wealth.
Where are they now, and what has become of their
gold ? How many are sleeping quietly underground,
and never giving a thought to that precious metal for
the possession of which they were once so eager ? How
many more are laboriously toiling for it on distant
fields, and fated never to find it ? Once this now
silent hamlet resounded with the incessant turmoil of
men, horses and machines at work, but now the little
creek runs placidly through the township, and its

THE STONE HUT. 47

waters are no longer discoloured by the irreverent
hands of the digger.

In my many rambles around Marathon one relic of
the past invariably arrested my attention. It seemed
to be the remnant of what was once a large and
•extensive stone building. Standing on an elevated site
on the left bank of the creek, with its remaining walls
covered with overgrown ivy, the sloping garden teem-
ing with rank luxuriance, fences broken and shattered
at intervals, and empty spaces that once were windows,
the place was a picture of wild and romantic desolation.
Viewed from the opposite side of the creek on a clear,
moonlight night, the " Stone Hut," as it was commonly
termed, presented a singularly weird and ghostly
appearance ; and on such occasions I have often
wondered what was the history of that strange struc-
ture. I felt instinctively that those decaying walls
could " a tale unfold " had they but the gift of speech.
All my inquiries amongst friends procured me no
information, and I had given up all hope of penetrating
the mystery, when, on my last visit, I made the
acquaintance of an old miner, a survivor of the early
days of the diggings, and from him I learnt the story

of-

The Stone Hut.

" Quiet ? Well, yes, the old place certainly does look
quiet enough now ; but I can remember a time when
it was far different. It's wonderful what changes come
about in a few years. Twenty years ago I little
thought that I would live to see the day when the old
house yonder would be given over to the rats, and I

48 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

the only one left to tell its stoiy. Yes, I can call to
mind many a night of revelry and dissipation spent
within those decaying walls, when the gold was plentiful
and recklessly squandered, and when all the young
fellows on the field considered it a duty to remain
there till midnight, singing, drinking and dancing. Do
you know, I really believe that gold makes people mad.
There is a sort of delirious excitement about gokl-
digging that turns the heads of even the most sensible
and sober individuals. Believe me, there are many
grave fathers of families in Victoria who would not like
to be reminded of the merry life they led in the glorious
early days of Moonlight Creek.

" It was in 1855 that the first nuggets were found
here, and the rush that set in was something astonish-
ing. I arrived at the creek the day after the news was
published, and imagine my surprise when I found a
couple of thousand men on the ground before me.
Among the first on the field was Matt Kennedy, a
genial, active fellow, who, in an incredibly short space
of time, had a large tent erected, and ' General Store '
painted in big letters outside. Matt commenced
business without delay, not even waiting to get the
Queen's permission to sell certain ' strong waters' that
formed portion of his stock-in-trade. In a short time
he made a small fortune, and, as the diggings began to
assume a more permanent character, he determined to
erect a more substantial place of business. Accordingly,
he built a first-class establishment, that would be no
discredit to any town in the colony, and, amidst great
rejoicings, christened it the ' Miners' Rest.' Well, it

THE STONE HUT. 49

may seem rather curious, but it is nevertheless a fact,
that in the ' Stone Hut ' yonder you see the ruins of
the ' Miners' Rest.' Why was it abandoned to decay ?
Well, I'll come to that presently ; but Matt remained
in it for two years, driving a profitable trade, as the
miners continued to receive splendid returns, and a
large proportion of the gold, as a matter of course,
found its way to the ' Rest.' Like a sensible man,
Matt then sold out at a good figure, and sailed for the
old country with a well-filled purse. The new pro-
prietor of the ' Rest ' was a little sour-faced Scotchman
— 'the exact antithesis of the genial Matt — but he
brought with him an attraction that served to atone
for and counterbalance his unprepossessing aspect.
Donald Macarthurwas a widower with one daughter,
a graceful, bright-eyed, fascinating charmer of eighteen,
whose advent caused a general flutter all over the field.
For several weeks Eva Macarthur was the sole topic
of conversation. The ' Rest ' became more popular
than ever, everyone being anxious to obtain a glimpse
of the reigning beauty — a by no means easy matter
for the disagreeable old Donald kept her as much as
possible out of public view. Nevertheless, her presence
attracted all the young gallants to the ' Rest,' which
they continued to frequent until their perseverance
was rewarded by a casual sight of the fair one. But
after a time the excitement began to cool down, and
the number of Eva's admirers gradually diminished
under the chilling influence of the severe and ever-
frowning Donald. But there was one determined to
conquer all obstacles and to win the prize — one of the

50 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

best-liked diggers on the creek — a tall, handsome,
young Irishman named Tom O'Hara, Tom was a
clever fellow, of good family and education, as many
rough-clad diggers were in those days, and he succeeded
in winning the affections of Eva before the old gentle-
man, wide-awake as he was, exactly realised tlie
situation. You may imagine the scene that ensued
when Tom, one fine morning, went up to the ' Rest ' to
' ask papa.' Old Donald, it was well known, was an
intolerant bigot, a most rigid Presbyterian, and hated
the name of Irish Catholic with a holy hatred. He
told Tom, in thundering tones, that he would never
allow his name to be disgraced by allying it with that
of a ' crawling Papist.' Tom's Celtic blood was fired
by this cruel taunt, and various stories were circulated
as to what happened afterwards, but it is enough to
say that Eva was next day hurried off to Melbourne,
and Tom returned to his claim a changed man. All
his former gay spirits and lightheartedness had
suddenly disappeared : he became silent, thoughtful,
and reserved, and applied himself with greater
diligence than ever to the working of his claim.

" Well, for a few months things went on as usual,
and the lady, whom everyone was so anxious to see at
first, was soon almost forgotten. Queer, is it not ? But
it is perhaps just as well for all of us that we live in
the present only, and amuse ourselves with the
passing toys of the hour, never thinking of the in-
difference with which we will regard them twelve
months hence. Eva's name was now only mentioned
when someone, in conversation, would notice the

THE STONE HUT. 51

change that had come over the once cheerful Tom
O'Hara. After the abrupt departure of Eva, Tom held
himself aloof from all his former companions, and
worked his patch of ground with the greatest assiduity
— in fact, some of the old stagers remarked that his
disappointment had done him a world of good by-
causing him to attend more closely to his business, and
one of them jokingly predicted that Dame Fortune
would send him a handsome present to recompense
him for the loss of his darling. "Well, it oftentimes
happens that a joke turns out true, and so it was in
Tom's case, for one morning the news was circulated
all over the field that a monster nugget was unearthed,
and everyone was delighted to hear that Tom was the
lucky man. I saw the nugget the day after it was
brought to the surface, and a splendid specimen it was.
It weighed over seven hundred and fifty ounces, and
Tom disposed of it for — I forget the exact amount, but
it was close on £3000.

" In this world it is very difficult to distinguish
between Fortune's favours and her afflictions, for it
often happens that the evil she sends is really a blessing
in disguise, and what we think a splendid gift of hers
frequently becomes a source of disaster. Everyone
congratulated Tom on his good luck, but no one
imagined for a moment what that 'good luck' was
destined to lead to. No one thought that the finding
of the rich nugget would have for its sequel the tragic
death of the lucky digger. But let me not anticipate.
Tom's sudden elevation to wealth helped to dispel the
gloom that had surrounded him for some time previous.

52 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

and, as St. Patrick's Day was near at hand, he con-
ceived the idea of celebrating his ' lucky find ' by
giving all his friends a day's amusement on the national
anniversary. Never thinking of being successful in
the effort, but merely wishing to see how old Donald
would regard his altered circumstances, he went up to
the ' Rest ' for the first time since Eva's departure and
asked the use of the house and grounds for the occasion.
The wily Caledonian received him as cordially as if
nothing had happened, and so worked on his susceptible
feelings that all former harsh words were mutually
forgiven. They parted the best of friends, and extensive
preparations for the approaching festival were com-
menced with great vigour. When the grand day came
round, some hundreds-of 'wearers of the green' assembled
in the grounds yonder by the invitation of Tom
O'Hara, and such a day of sport and rejoicing was
never before seen on the diggings. As a fitting
termination to the day's festivities, Tom had arranged
a ball at the ' Rest ' in the evening. When I look at
those dark, ruined walls, and remember the brilliant
appearance the place presented that night, it makes me
thoughtful and sad. Dancing was kept up until a late
hour, and, when I left, Tom was enjoying asocial glass
with a few of his old companions. That was the last
time I saw him alive. In the morning he was missing,
and no one could give any information as to his
whereabouts. Old Donald seemed thunderstruck when
told of poor Tom's disappearance, and on being ques-
tioned he stated that Tom had left the house rather
suddenly at an early hour of the morning. On the

THE STONE HUT. 53

second day an active search was instituted, but at the
close of the evening the mystery of Tom's fate remained
unsolved. On the third morning the suspicion that he
had met with foul play became very general, and
towards midday all doubts were removed by the
finding of poor Tom's body in the creek, just at the
foot of the garden yonder. The corpse was carried up
to the ' Rest,' the scene of the festivities a few days
before — but here a new surprise was revealed. The
place was entirely deserted ; not a trace of old Donald
could be discovered ; he had abruptly disappeared, and
the circumstance was everywhere regarded as a positive
proof of his guilty knowledge of poor Tom's death. An
inquest was of course held, but, in the absence of any
direct testimony, an open verdict was returned. The
feeling all over the diggings was intense ; work was
suspended, and the tragic event excited universal
regret and indignation. There was every reason to
believe that poor Tom was murdered for his money, as
not a fraction of the large sum he received for his
nugget could afterwards be discovered. Every effort to
trace old Donald in his sudden flight proved unavailing
Had the ground opened and swallowed him, he could
not have vanished in a more extraordinary manner.

" Well, years passed by, and the old place was
abandoned to silence and decay. No one ever
attempted to re- open it after the melancholy end of
Tom O'Hara ; it was surrendered to the wild solitude
of desolation. The diggings went down rapidly, the
miners dispersed, and in me you see the last survivor of
the early days."

54 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

" Was anything ever heard afterwards of the fate of
old Donald ?"

" Oh, yes ; a few years afterwards a successful digger
returned from New Zealand and brought a strange
piece of news with him. His party was working on the
Otago coast, and one night, in the midst of a terrific
storm, a vessel was driven on the rocks. A number of
lives were saved by the exertions of those on shore, but
five bodies were picked up next morning. One of the
dead men had tied securely round his neck a small
bag, which, on being opened, was found to contain over
two thousand pounds worth of notes and gold, and my
informant, who knew him when living in the ' Rest,'
immediately identified the body as that of old Donald
Macarthur.

" Eva, I have heard it said, was seen frequently
visiting the grave of poor Tom in the cemetery there
on your right ; and afterwards I was told that she had
become a Catholic, and had determined on passing her
life in the peaceful seclusion of a convent. And now
you have the whole history of the strange building
opposite that so excited your curiosity."

As the patriarchal miner concluded his story, the
sinking sun was descending below the wooded heights
in the west. The crumbling walls were bathed for an
instant in a flood of golden light, and the next moment
were immersed in repulsive darkness — an emblem, I
thought, of the brief grandeur of the " Miners' Rest "
and the long degradation of the " Stone Hut."

THE COMING AUSTRALIAN.

We have it on the most ancient and reputable authority
that the prophet has no honour in his own country,
and centuries of experience have proved very satisfac-
torily that this Biblical proverb is more literally true
than the generality of proverbs. In all ages and
countries, the philanthropic gentleman, wrapped in the
inspired mantle of prophecy, and warning the gay and
giddy throng of certain rocks ahead, has always been
badly treated. But history furnishes us with many
examples of eminent men, whose predictions, founded
on diligent study and close observation, were sneered
and laughed at by thoughtless, short-sighted con-
temporaries, and yet, many of these latter had the
mortification to see verified in old age what had excited
their laughter in youth. It is thus quite possible that an
Australian writer, who, attempting a glimpse into the
future, has the assurance to draw a pen-and-ink
sketch of the future inhabitant of this continent, will
receive more censures than compliments in the present ;
but, twenty years hence, people may be wondering
how he could have drawn so faithful a portrait from so
shadowy a subject. The time seems opportune for
such a forecast, and, even at the risk of incurring the
ordinary fate of prophets, I mean to attempt it. In
twenty years from this date very few of the thousands

56 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

whom the golden magnet attracted from all parts of
the world to Australia will be left. Their sons and
daughters, born on Australian soil, will occupy their
places, and form a new type of humanity. Is it
possible to arrive at a fairly accurate estimate of what
that type will be by studying the Australian native
under his present conditions ? That is the question I
propose to discuss as far as a few brief pages will
permit.

The three main characteristics of the native Austra-
lian appear to me to be the following : —

1. An inordinate love of field sports.

2. A very decided disinclination to recognise

the authority of parents and superiors.

3. A grievous dislike to mental effort.

If the first of these characteristic features be
regarded as a defect of character, there can be no doubt
that climatic influences must form an important factor
in determining the degree of fault. The native Aus-
tralian lives in a sunny land, inhales a balmy air, an<l
gazes on cheerful skies. His parents' conception of a
genuine Christmas is far different to his. Their
recollections of the great social event of the year are
associated with bleak winds and wintry storms, falling
snow, an immense fire in the biggest chimney, the
entire family clustering round and listening to blood-
curdling stories. Your native Australian cannot
understand or appreciate such a Christmas. The only
Christmas with which he is acquainted is one
celebrated with all the joyous excitement of external
freedom ; an annual event signalised by delightful

THE COMING AUSTRALIAN. 57

"t'eunions in the parks and gardens, healthful excur-
sions into the country, or boating expeditions down
the river. And not at Christmas alone, or any other
great festival in particular, is this preference for
external life, as distinguished from internal, mani-
fested by the native Australian. It exhibits itselt
throughout the year, and all contemporary evidence
points to the conclusion that coming generations
will gradually assimilate their mode of life to
that of countries in the northern hemisphere with
corresponding climatic conditions. In other words,
the coming Australian will transact most of the
business of life in the open air. Even now, when
the native element is only just beginning to
assert itself, we see how easy it is to congre-
gate fifteen or twenty thousand young persons in
one of the city reserves. In England, the most im-
portant cricket or football match will not attract more
than a few thousand interested spectators ; but here, at
the Antipodes, with an incomparably smaller popu-
lation, everyone is an enthusiastic admirer of the
noble games, and the mere announcement of a trial of
strength between Melbourne and Jolimont in cricket,
or Geelong and South Melbourne in football, will draw
an immense concourse to the scene of action. The
fact that in all the leading Australian journals there is
now a regular department for the reporting of field
sports shows very plainly what a strong hold they
have acquired on the popular mind. It is no
exaggeration to say that out of every ten native Austra-
lians nine spend all their leisure in the practice of

58 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

either cricket or football. Now this, I contend, is
carrying things to an undesirable extreme. Field
sports, after all, are only a recreation, not a business ;:
and it is a mistake to allow them to occupy the
thoughts to the exclusion of other and more important
considerations. There can be no objection advanced-
against them as muscular exercises, but the evil is
that of late years they have assumed a prominence
out of all proportion to their relative place. The
influence of climate, as I have already mentioned
induces this ardent devotion to field sports in the
breasts of Australian natives, but it is a passion that
must be kept in check, and not allowed to clash with
more material interests. If permitted to run riot, as
at present, the inevitable consequences must neces-
sarily ensue, and the}' will prejudicially affect the
Australian national character. Of course, it may be
argued that this inordinate devotion to muscular
exercises is only the exuberance of youth ; that when
young Australians grow older and enter upon the
serious business of life, they will be less ardent in
their attachment to the sports of the field. This may
be true, but, even if we admit its truth, is it not a
serious matter that the spring-time of life, the vigour
of early manhood, shonld be practically wasted by this
excessive indulgence in physical pleasures at the
expense of mental cultivation, for that is what it
really means. In the sunny south there must ever
be a sympathetic interest in all that pertains to manly
sports, and so long as that interest is confined within
reasonable bounds, the Australian native will be served

TEE COMING AUSTRALIAN. 59

and improved ; but if the present policy is to be
permanent, if the arena of muscle is to be the only
arena which the young Australian means to shine, if
excellence in cricket or football is to be the summit of
the Australian native's ambition, then it is pretty safe to
predict that the Coming Man will suffer considerably
by comparison with his ancestors.

The second head of our subject embodies a very
serious defect in the young Australian's character —
his decided disinclination to recognise the authority of
parents and superiors. One of the most keen-sighted
critics that ever sojourned in the Southern Hemisphere
— Dr. Moorhouse, the late Anglican Bishop of Melbourne
— was quick to discern this ugly spot, and his feelings,
prompted him to give utterance to some scathing
remarks on what he characterised as the " want of
reverence" manifested by young colonials. Whatever
may be the reason, it is undoubtedly a fact that the
native Australian acquires a feeling of independence
at a far earlier age than is the case in older lands,
and parental government in the colonies certainly
does not exercise that wholesome restraining influence
which should be its main ingredient. As a necessary
consequence, this indifference to domestic authority
inevitably leads to a similar disrespect for national
authority ; for, where the laws of the household are
not regarded, the laws of the State, by a sure process-
must come to be disregarded also. Hence it is that in
the colonies, and more especially in Victoria, the
percentage of juvenile crime is so abnormally large as to
cause serious misgivings for the future. It has

«0 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

recently been officially reported that, in the chief
penal establishment of this colony, there never were
so many young culprits confined as at present — that,
in point of fact, they constitute the great majority of
the prisoners; and one of our most experienced
police magistrates, speaking from the Bench of the
Melbourne City Police Court, publicly expressed his
surprise and regret at seeing so many young persons
brought before him day after day. " I tremble for
^-he rising generation," was the sorrowful remark of
Dr. Perry, the first Anglican Bishop of Melbourne,
and no one can doubt that the right reverend prelate's
fears were amply justified. To such an extent has
youthful misconduct become an institution amongst
«s, that some ingenious individual coined a very
expressive word as a distinguishing term for it ;
and this word, notwithstanding the reproach it
implies on the fair fame of the colony, has
been generally accepted, and is now in quite com-
mon use. Should any enterprising Australian
.publisher issue an English dictionary, he would
be in honour bound to include in it two analogous
words of native growth, viz., the noun " larrikinism"
(to which I have just referred), and the verb " to
stonewall," an antipodean term that, it should delight
us to know, is now freely quoted and practically exem-
plified in the classic halls of Westminster. This pretty
general indifference to, or " want of reverence" for,
authority I attribute to the defective early education
of most young Australians. The State does too much
for the people in the colonies. The State here, in a

TEE COMING AUSTRALIAN. 61

measure, usurps parental rights, and insists on children
being educated in accordance with Government-
routine. Such a military style of education may have
its advantages, but it has likewise some very serious
disadvantages, and not the least serious is that it
engenders a feeling of apathy in regard to the noble
work of home-training.

Young Australia's third defect of character I have
described as " a grievous dislike to mental effort." Is
it not exceedingly strange that, whilst the most eager
interest is manifested in the doings of the Australian
cricketers in England, the utmost indifference is shown
towards the triumphs of Australian genius in other
and more ennobling spheres ? Not long ago, the
unknown reporter of a Victorian provincial journal,
confident in his own powers, proceeded to London and
published a work of such sterling merit that he
was immediately assigned a place in the front rank of
English novelists. This gentleman — Mr. B. L. Farjeon
— has won recognition as a legitimate disciple of Charles
Uickens, as a writer whose name is worthy of association
with that of the great master of modern fiction. Yet
how many Australians have read " Grif," " Joshua
Marvel," or " London's Heart ?" Does one Australian
native out of ten even know the name of this man of
genius, who laboured unknown in their midst for
years, and is now a man of mark in the world's
metropolis ? It is to be feared that this question must
be answered in the negative. Successful cricketers
and rowers, who achieve nothing more than what an
ignorant South Sea Islander could do if he exercised

62 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

his muscles sufficiently, are cheered and lauded ; their
portraits submitted for our admiration, and their
glorious deeds enthusiastically described in the news-
papers, whilst men of brains like Farjeon are treated
with cold neglect. The more one thinks, the more one
is convinced of the absolute truth of the Chelsea
philosopher's cynical remark regarding the inhabitants
of this mundane sphere — that they are "mostly fools.'
Take another illustration of this Australian contempt
for the triumphs of mind. Victoria had once in her
midst a painter of genius, who certainly did not
receive that place of honour amongst us to which his
artistic merit entitled him. He, too, went to London,
and is now recognised as one of the most accomplished
artists of the day ;. yet how many people to the south
of the equator have heard of the works of Nicholas
Chevalier ? Charles Summers, the sculptor, is another
man who shed the light of his genius on Australian
subjects, and it is only now, when he has passed
away, that the Australians whom he served are
beginning to do him justice. Several other similar
examples might be quoted, but enough has been said
to prove the truth of the assertion that whilst
the heroes of sport are lionised by Australians,
the far more deserving victors in the arena of
literature and art receive but scant sympathy
from the colonies that they once honoured by their
presence. Surely this is a serious reflection on the
national character of a people. To deify muscle and
degrade the mind is a proceeding that does not augur
well for the future ; yet, in the face of notorious

THE COMING AUSTRALIAN, 63

existing facts, who will be bold enough to deny that
such is not the actual policy of the majority of native
Australians ?

A movement has been inaugurated, having for its
object the formation of Australian Natives' Associa-
tions throughout the colonies ; but, unfortunately,
even at this early stage, these bodies have begun to
assume a pronounced political character, and there is,
therefore, every reason to fear that the good results
that might have been anticipated, had their promoters
steered clear of the whirlpool of politics, will be
marred and neutralised by this grave error of judg-
ment. In view of what I have already said regarding
the evident tendency of the Australian mind to
depreciate and almost ignore the achievements of
literature and art, it seems to me that, instead of
blindly swearing allegiance to a particular class of
politicians, and indiscreetly identifying themselves
with a party of whose ultimate aims they are in
perfect ignorance, it would be far better for native
Australians in all the large centres of population to form
themselves into non-political Young Men's Mutual
Improvement Societies. Such associations, if well
organised, would be productive of a vast amount of
good ; they would admit all native Australians to
share in their advantages, irrespective of political
or party considerations ; they would be the means of
inciting the Australian mind to an active sympathy
with intellectual pursuits ; and b}^ participating in
debates, literary exercises, and elocutionary practice,
Australian natives would be undergoing the best

64 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

possible training for the important work that will
devolve upon them when the destinies of the southern
continent are placed entirely in their hands. A few of
these useful bodies are at present in existence, but
they are confined to the principal cities, and their roll
of members is the reverse of lengthy. What is
urgently needed is the further extension of the prin-
ciple of mutual improvement throughout the colonies
so that every studious Australian native may be in a
position to cultivate intellectual companionship, and
learn something of the higher life of his day. Purely
political Australian Natives' Associations may possibly
produce some excellent specimens of the genus " demo-
crat ;" but, from their defective constitution, there is
little reason to hope that they will ever add a single
grain to the world's store of thought. The Australian
native, under their auspices, will never contribute
any lasting work to English literature, or attain to
distinction in science and art. They may teach him
to applaud the hollow harangues of unprincipled
demagogues, but they will never teach him that
best of lessons — to think for himself

Unless, then, the young Australians of the first
generation determine to pay more attention to mind
and less to muscle, there is every reason to fear that
the type of humanity developed at the Antipodes will
display an abnormal preponderance of the animal at
the expense of the intellectual faculties. " Just as the
twig is bent, the tree's inclined," and now is the time
to give the Australian national character its proper
tendency and its true bias. The future depends upon

THE COMING AUSTRALIAN. 65

the right use of the present. If the coming Australian
is to be a man of culture, of energy, and of high
aspirations, the process of moulding must be performed
with the existing material. With all their ardent
devotion to athletics, their early-developed indepen-
dence of authority, and their prevailing indisposition
to mental cultivation, it is equally true that native
Australians possess many good qualities that only
need systematic education for their adequate develop-
ment. When the occasion has arisen, they have
proved themselves to be active and intelligent, frank
and generous, earnest and patriotic, zealous and
enthusiastic in the cause they have taken to heart.
It was a native Australian, the Right Hon. W. B.
Dalley, whose name is held in honour throughout the
English-speaking world, that called forth the first
heroic impulse on this continent, and who, by his
lofty and inspiring eloquence, ma.y be truly said to
have breathed a soul into Australian nationality. If
the advice and example of such teachers as he be but
faithfully followed, there need be no fear for the
future of the coming: Australian.

DANIEL O'CONNELL.
In the history of nations nothing is more illustrative
of the Providence of God than the manner in which
great men are found to emerge from the ranks of the
multitude in the hour of their country's trial. When
a people is reduced to the direst extremities, when
liberty is almost crushed beneath the heel of the
despot ; or when, on the other hand, a nation forgets
itself, and, in a fit of popular delirium, runs into the
most violent excesses — then a man suddenly appears
at the critical juncture, called forth by God for a
special purpose, and, having effected that purpose,
vanishes from the scene. The history of the world
presents several such examples. When Israel was
groaning under the despotism of Pharaoh, Moses
received a Divine commission to effect the deliverance
of God's own people. When France, that most
glorious, and, at the same time, most unfortunate of
countries, had almost suffered national extinction, a
Joan of Arc arose to restore her country to the posi-
tion from which it had fallen. Later on, when the
same hapless nation trembled on the brink of ruin, to
which she was brought by her own misguided sons ;
when a reign of terror and anarchy desolated her
cities and profaned her sacred shrines — a Napoleon

DANIEL 0' CON NELL. 67

appeared on the scene and rescued France from the
chaos into which she was rapidly descending. But
why revert to the distant ages of antiquity, or even
to comparatively recent periods, in order to demon-
strate this truth ? Why revert to a Moses, or a Joan
of Arc ? Where can we find a better illustration than
the career of the great Catholic Irishman of our cen-
tury— the Moses who delivered the modern Israel
from a captivity unparalleled in the annals of time,
unexampled in its rigours, and unequalled in its
duration. Truly, if ever a man was called into
existence for the attainment of a noble purpose, that
man was Daniel O'Connell, aud that purpose was the
redemption of Catholic Ireland.

Born in the memorable year of 1775 — the year in
which the first shout of Liberty resounded through
America — Daniel O'Connell witnessed in his boyhood
the closing scenes of that terrible century of gloom
durino- which the infamous penal code desolated his
native land. The warm blood of youth boiled in his
veins when he heard some faithful peasant narrate
how, whilst the Holy Sacrifice was being offered up
by stealth in some mountain cave, the congregation
was surprised by the priest-hunters, and how the
faithful pastor not unfrequently expiated with his
life his zeal for the glory of his Creator and the salvation
of his persecuted flock. When O'Connell attained the
age of manhood, he experienced in person many of
the disabilities under which his religion, and that of
his ancestors, laboured. He saw his fellow-countrymen
denied the common rights of citizenship, and

68 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

forbidden to acquire land or any kind of property-
whatever ; he saw his native land contaminated by the
operation of laws, " framed with diabolical ingenuity
to extinguish natural affection, to foster perfidy and
hypocrisy, and to perpetuate brutal ignorance." He
saw and felt all this, and, in the righteous indignation
of his heart, he lifted up his voice, protested against
such detestable enactments, and vowed that he would
never cease his efforts until he had attained their
removal from the statute-book. And nobly was that
vow fulfilled ! To keep it, he sacrificed everything,
and laboured incessantly for the cause of his religion
and his country. Notwithstanding many apparent
defeats, despite the opposition of his enemies at home
and abroad, the Liberator, for the long period of
seventeen years, prosecuted his sublime mission,
rousing the people into enthusiasm by his eloquence,
leading them into the right path by his unerring
guidance, and infusing into them some of his own
indomitable zeal and perseverance. He attended
meetings in almost every town throughout the island,
addressed his countrymen whenever the occasion
presented itself, and kept the country in a state of
wholesome agitation. The influence of the Irish
people began at length to assert itself; the meetings
had become so numerous and the attendance at them
so large that the British Government found itself
compelled to resort to remedial measures. But with
what reluctance was the justice of the Catholic claims
acknowledged ! Several timeswastheReliefBillrejected,
and, in the course of one of the debates in the House

DANIEL O'CONNELL. 69

of Lords, the Duke of York, heir-presumptive to the
throne, called upon God to witness " that he would
rather see the right arm cut from his body than con-
sent to Catholic Emancipation." But, when the
memorable Clare election resulted in the triumphant
return of O'Connell, it became evident that the
Catholic claims could be no longer resisted with
safety. The Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel
had to inform the Lords and Commons of Great
Britain that, if they wished to prevent civil war in
Ireland, Catholic Emancipation must be granted.
Parliament wisely chose the lesser alternative, and the
Relief Bill was immediately passed. Thus, after a
hard struggle of seventeen years, did O'Connell wring
from the British Government a tardy acknowledgment
of Catholic rights. Thus were the portals of civil and
religious liberty thrown open to the Irish Catholic.
The " Man of the People" had conquered at last 1

Having gained the great victory of Catholic Eman-
cipation, O'Connell next devoted his extraordinary
talents to the attainment of an object secondary only
to the emancipation of his Church — the repeal of the
odious Act of Union. In the endeavour to secure for
his country the inestimable right of self-government,
he laboured for the remainder of his life. He exerted
all his wonderful powers of organisation to make the
agitation for a Repeal of the Union culminate in a
success as glorious as that which had crowned his
efforts in the cause of religious liberty. But God had
not so willed it ! Instead of a nation arising as one
man to assert its rights, as was the case in 1529,

70 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

Ireland, during the closing j-ears of the Repeal
agitation, was the scene of angry contentions and
unseemly recrimination. We may well imagine the
grief of the Liberator on seeing his country in so
lamentable a condition, and his grief was intensified
when he saw thousands of those whom he loved so
well stricken down by the merciless hand of famine.
With sorrowing heart, O'Connell bade farewell to
Ireland, and turned his steps to the centre of Catho-
licity, which he was fated never to reach. In the
peaceful city of Genoa he expired, bequeathing witU
his dying breath " his soul to God, his heart to Rome,
and his body to Ireland."

Thus ended the career of the greatest Irishman of
his times — a man whose character will ever be one of
the most exalted in the history of our race, and who,
when the inevitable mists of bigotry and prejudice
shall have been dispelled by the steady advance of
truth, will one day be universally welcomed to a
place amongst the most illustrious champions of civil
and religious liberty. To the impartial student of
modern history, the figure of Daniel O'Connell stands
out in solitary, majestic proportions — a man distin-
guished alike for his private worth and public spirit.
His name and that of Catholic Ireland are inseparably
connected. His devotion to his God and his country
was the leading characteristic of his career, and his
name will for many a year be treasured up in the
memories of his grateful countrymen as an embodiment
of all that constitutes a sterling patriot and a Christian
hero.

DANIEL 0' CON NELL. 71

The sentiment contained in the beautiful lines

written by Thomas Moore on the death of another

illustrious Irishman applies with perhaps greater force

and appropriateness to the " Uncrowned King" of

Hibernia —

'* — Not a heart that e'er knew him but mourns,

Deep, deep o'er the grave where such glory is shrined —
O'er a monument Fame will preserve, 'mong the urns
Of the wisest, the bravest, the best of mankind."

CARDINAL NEWMAN.
It is not very difficult to understand the widespread
and general interest that is evinced in the career of
John Henry Newman. In the first place, he is one of
the most picturesque figures in contemporary history,
A man who devoted his intellectual youth and man-
hood to the pursuit of truth, and, when he found it,
hesitated not to sacrifice everything for its sake, is
somewhat of a phenomenon in this utilitarian age of
ours. Born and bred in an established church,
educated in an historical university, loved and
admired by churchmen and students, gifted with
intellectual attainments that would have raised him
to the highest dignity the Anglican Church could
confer — yet, in obedience to a secret voice, unheard
by mundane ears, he quitted his beloved Oxford,
separated himself from all the endearing associations of
the past, surrendered the honourable gratification of a
laudable ambition, and took a lowly place in the ranks
of a church one of whose prime tenets is, " that men
must faithfully and firmly believe on God's unerring
word whatever He has revealed, be it ever so incom-
prehensible to their finite intellects." He knew well
what a perennial accusation of wearing the badge of
intellectual servitude would be invited by taking such
an apparently extraordinary step, but he was conscious
of an equally perennial reply in the simple words —

CARDINAL NEWMAN. 73

" My conscience is at rest ; I have found the truth at
last." Then, again, as the great living master of
English prose, Cardinal Newman has a world-wide
constituency, to whom he speaks in that sublimely
simple and open-hearted style that converts every
reader into an admirer and a distant friend. Long-
fellow is not more distinctly the household poet of
our time than Newman is the clearest teacher of the
English-speaking world. The tender story of Evan-
geline, as told by the sweet singer of the western
world, is not more affecting than the history of a
great mind in the pursuit of truth, as narrated in the
graphic pages of the Apologia pro vita Sua. If
ever out of evil came good, it was when Newman sat
down to pen that literary masterpiece in reply to the
brutal sneer of Kingsley, that truth was not the same
thing to him that it was to other minds.

A recent publication of a biographical sketch of
Cardinal Newman has had the effect of re-awakening
public interest in the man and his career ; and it is
matter for congratulation that the leading organs of
English opinion have reviewed the work and its
subject in a kindly and impartial spirit. As a
specimen of a number of similar appreciative notices,
reference may be made to a paper in the Westminater
Review entitled " Ecclesiastical Migrations," in which
this genuine and sympathetic feeling is evinced,
Newman being referred to in the opening paragraph
as " one who, taking him altogether, may be accurately
called the most remarkable man of his time." The
writer of the Westminster article also endorsed the

74 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

judgment of J. A. Froude, " that Newman has been
the voice of the intellectual re-action of Europe, which
was alarmed by an era of revolutions and is looking
for safety in the forsaken beliefs of the ages which it
had been tempted to despise." And this judgment, he
thinks, " is assented to by the world generally, and
will probably be the judgment of future generations."
The Apologia is described as having "enriched English
literature with the greatest of autobiographies, by
which Newman's character and career were completely
and permanently vindicated, and will ever remain
' precious possessions of the English people.' " But it
is a significant fact that in the majority of these
recent notices, complimentary and eulogistic as they
are in the main, thei'e is betrayed a lurking suspicion
in the minds of the writers, that there is some mystery
yet unexplained in regard to the conversion of Car-
dinal Newman. The wish, no doubt, is father to the
thought, that, before he closes his mortal career,
another radical change may come over his religious
opinions, and Rome be robbed of its greatest modern
triumph. This feeling was amusingly illustrated after
the definition of the dogma of Papal Infallibility,
when the prevalent Protestant cry was — " Will Dr.
Newman accept this doctrine ?" The Infallibility
of the Pope — a belief of the Universal Church, con-
sonant with her traditions, and essential to her
authoritative teaching — appeared to non-Catholic
minds a bitter test-pill for Dr. Newman to swallow.
But the dogma was accepted by Newman, as by
every true Catholic, with acquiescent docility and

CARDINAL NEW3fAK. 75

obedience. Whatever doubts might have been pre-
viously entertained as to the opportuneness of the
definition, they faded away like morning mists when
the decision of the Ecumenical Council was pro-
nounced— " Rome has spoken, and the controversy
is ended."

There are those who profess to believe that Dr_
Newman has never yet succeeded in convincing his
countrymen of the sincerity of his conversion, and
that thousands of Englishmen are still unable to
comprehend the reasons that induced him to sever
his connection with Anglicanism, and embrace the
doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church. This, of
course, is to be regretted, if true ; but Catholic opinion
is pretty unanimous on one point — that many English-
men are prevented by prejudice irom doing justice to
the noble character of their distinguished countryman.
A man who, to quote the words of Disraeli, " gave the
Established Church a blow from which she is still
reeling," is not readily forgiven by his former Anglican
friends. Judeinfj from the criticisms that followed
the climax of the Tractarian movement, the prevalent
English opinion was that Dr. Newman had insulted
the national honour by " going over to Rome." It
was more than insinuated that he had been all the
while a wolf in sheep's clothing, a Jesuit in disguise.
So long as such feelings predominated in the national
mind, there was no room for a just recognition of the
self-sacrificing character of the man ; of the mental
struggles that preceded the final act ; of the deep con-
victions that regulated his conduct ; or of the heartfelt

76 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

regret with which he found himself compelled to part
with all that was dearest in his Anglican career. Do
these feelings still predominate in the minds of
cultured Englishmen ? Are they yet willing to
acknowledge that Newman's conversion to Catholicity
was due solely to the conviction that there, and there
alone, he could find rest for his troubled soul ?

It is at times asserted that for a lengthened period
Newman was regarded with distrust by the authori-
ties of that Church for which he sacrificed so much.
For this gratuitous assumption there is not the
slightest foundation in fact. Cardinal Newman is
loved and venerated by the Catholic world. No
doubt it is the opinion of many honest but super-
ficial observers, that Dr. Newman should have earlier
received an ecclesiastical title, but it is a well-known
fact that the author of the Apologia is a man of singular
humility, and utterly averse to anything in the nature
of parade or ostentation. To live a retired life in
his oratory, perform a regular course of spiritual
exercises, and dispense the rich treasures of his mind
to a group of young students, is all that he desires.
He assimilates his life as closely as possible to that of
the ages of faith. What to him are the titles and
dignities, the conferring of which is watched with such
jealous interest by the outer world ? No, the appa-
rent neglect of the late Sovereign Pontiff, Pius the
Ninth, was due solely to a wise consideration of the
peculiar character of the illustrious English convert.
From the highest dignitary in the Catholic Church to
the lowliest worshipper in the Australian bush, the

CARDINAL NEWMAN. 11

name of Newman is ever mentioned in terms of
admiration and respect. That Englishmen will once
again return to the faith of their fathers, and be
reunited to the centre of Catholicity, is the belief of
every child of the Church ; and, when that happy
period shall arrive, we may rest assured that the
splendid services of John Henry Newman will not be
forgotten. He it was who, in an age of bigotry and
intolerance, had the courage of his convictions, and
did not fear to preach, despite a nation's frown, that
true happiness could only be found within the pale of
the one true church.

It would be an interesting speculation to ascertain
how many thousands have been converted by a
perusal of the Apologia, a work that has been
accurately described as " one of the classics of our
language." The number of those who have had their
religious doubts solved through its instrumentality is
large within every Catholic's experience ; and the
affection they entertain for the work and its author is
something unique in the history of literature. For it
must be borne in mind that in the Apologia Newman
has described, in incomparable English, the doubts
and difficulties of many an honest mind in the pursuit
of truth. Therefore it is that almost every reader
sees therein a reflection of his own mind at some
stage of his existence ; and, as he follows the vivid
narrative to the close, and grasps the chain link by
link, he must, if he is an honest man, admit that
sincerity is here.

What, then, is the moral of Cardinal Newman's

78 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

exceptional life ? As a far-off student of his benificent
works, an humble admirer of his superlative genius,
and a fellow-worshipper at the same world-wide altar
of a common Catholicity, his remarkable career seems
to me a providential protest against the cold and
repulsive materialism of the day. To see tha.t glorious
intellect sitting in modest humility at the foot of the
chair of St. Peter, believing with a child-like faith,
and worshipping with a devoted ardour, whilst his
puny intellectual contemporaries are noisily proclaim-
ing their independence of all spiritual authority on
earth, is a pathetic and instructive picture for our
contemplation. Whilst thousands are seen closing
their eyes to the rays of Divine truth, and pusillani-
mously shrinking into the AduUamite cave of agnosti-
cism, Newman is seen advancing courageously and
hopefully from point to point, singing his own
beautiful hymn : —

" Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom ;
Lead Thou me on !
The night is dark, and I am far from home —
Lead Thou me on !"

And to his true " home" he was eventually and
happily led ; the home from which his fathers had
strayed, the home that dispels, as by a magic wand,
all the doubts and fears of the human mind, and in
which rest and peace can alone be found for the
troubled and weary soul. Secure within the pale of
the Roman Catholic Church, and assured of the
stability of his position. Dr. Newman can afford to be
magnanimous in dealing with critics from the external
world, for all that they can say now is powerless to

CARDINAL NEWMAN. 79

influence or affect him. The goal of a life's struggles
has been attained. He stands before the world the
greatest of living witnesses to the power and per-
manency of the oldest of Christian faiths, a memorable
example of a noble mind unable to find nutriment in
the cold shades of heresy, and advancing, by slow
degrees, into the bright warm light of Catholic truth.
He is now far advanced in the evening of life, and
surely his declining years will be comforted by the
reflection that his character and career have been perma-
nently vindicated in the eyes of his countrymen, and
the unfairness of the aspersions cast upon the most
memorable event of his life, candidly and gracefully
acknowledged.

The re-action of public opinion in his favour is now,
as we have seen, making itself manifest, and may it
be hoped that the vindication will be so thorough and
complete as to justify the application of the beautiful
simile of Goldsmith : —

" As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form

Swells from the vale, and midway meets the storm ;

Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread,

Eternal sunshine settles on its head."

CONCERNING CARDINALS.*

As Sydney is soon to become the residential seat of
the first Australian Cardinal, the occasion seems
opportune for a few observations on the history and
growth of the Sacred College, and the important part
played by that body in the government of the Roman
Catholic Church. Reference to one remarkable and
pei'tinent fact may be made at the outset, and that is
the improved common-sense view which all British
communities now adopt towards titles conferred b}"- the
Pope. Such an outburst of fury as accompanied the
enthronement of Cardinal Wiseman in the see of
Westminster, 35 years ago, would be next to impos-
sible in the England of to-day, so great a change has
come over the nation. A distinguished French
journalist, M. John Lemoinne, writing in the Journal
des Debats 10 years ago, remarks : —

" We remember having seen some years ago Cardinal Wiseman
burnt in effigy in the streets of London on the anniversary of the
Ounpowder Plot. Passions have calmed down since then, and we
have no fear of any demonstration of that kind against Cardinal
Manning, who is universally respected for his labours and for the
asceticism of his life."

And the Standard, at the same period, gave utter-
ance to precisely similar sentiments : —

" They are very much shocked in Germany that Englishmen
should talk and write thus calmly, not to say indifferently,

♦ This paper was contributed to the Sydney Morning Herald on the
occasion of the elevation of the Most Rev. Dr. Moran, Archbishop of Sydney,
to the dignity of the Cardinalate, and was published in the isBue of that
j ournal for September 26, 1885.

CONCERNING CARDINALS. 81

concerning the elevation of Cardinal Manning and his expected I'eturn
amongst us. They cannot understand how it is that we are not
highly indignant with the Pope, with Cardinal Manning, and with
all our Roman Catholic fellow-countrymen for what they stigmatise
as a piece of intolerable impertinence. We, on the other hand, can
hardly comprehend their touchiness. We think we may safely
assert that whilst the enrolment of Dr. Manning amongst the mem-
bers of the Sacred College has given pleasure to the Englishmen who
belong to his Church, there are no Englishmen who are annoyed,
offended, alarmed, or in any way unpleasantly affected by the
incident."

It may be taken for granted that the people of
New South Wales regard the elevation of the Arch-
bishop of Sydney to the highest dignity of his Church
from the same reasonable standpoint, that they see
nothing in the nature of " Papal aggression" in this
new antipodean development, but rather that they
recognise in the action of Pope Leo XIII. a testimony
to the rapid progress of the colonies, and to the right
of Sydney to rank as a national capital. At the same
time, a number of old colonists may be excused if they
rub their eyes and wonder if they are really awake,
when they call to mind what " consternation and
excitement" (to quote the words of Mr. Bon wick) were
occasioned in Sydney in March, 1843, by the late Dr.
Polding describing himself, for the first time, as " John
Bede, by the grace of God and favour of the Holy
Apostolic See, Archbishop of Sydney and Vicar-
Apostolic of New Holland." The contrast between
then and now is certainly both marked and instructive
So far from publicly protesting against " ecclesi-
astical titles being conferred within the Queens
dominions by a foreign potentate," as his predecessor
did, Dr. Barry, it may be presumed, will be one of

82 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION:

the first to send a congratulatory note to Cardinal
Moran on his arrival in Sydney a few weeks hence.
The principle that has found expression in this radical
change of public opinion is a sound and incontestable
one : that every religious denomination should be at
perfect liberty to confer what titles it pleased within
the limits of its own jurisdiction.

All the authorities seem to be unanimous in deriving
the word Cardinal from cardo, a hinge, and, according
to the " Catholic Dictionary," the meaning of the
metaphor is, that a cardinal bears the same intimate
and necessary relation to the church as the hinge does
to the door. The term seems to have been first applied
to the fixed permanent clergy of a church as dis-
tinguished from unattached ecclesiastics. As an insti-
tution the cardinalate appears to have assumed its
first concrete shape in the year 304, when Pope
Marcellus constituted parish churches with distinctive
titles in Rome, and committed them to the charge of
" cardinal priests." A second stage of development
was reached when the bishops in the immediate
neighbourhood of Rome were permitted at times to
sit in synod with the reigning Pope. There were six
of these bishoprics, and in the course of time the
prelates who occupied them came to be recognised as
cardinal bishops, and to receive their appointments
directly from the Pope, One of the decrees of a council
held in Rome in 1059, under Pope Nicholas II., was
that the Pope should in future be elected "on the
judgment of the six cardinal bishops, with the assent
of the Roman clergy, the applause of the people, and

CONCERNING CARDINALS. 83

the ratification of the Emperor." Under this system
the nomination made by the cardinal bishops was, as a
rule, acquiesced in, and thus it gradually came about
that the election of the Sovereign Pontiff was vested in
the cardinals exclusively, as it continues to be to this
-day. In the 12th century the Sacred College numbered
fiix cardinal bishops, twenty-eight cardinal priests, and
fourteen cardinal deacons. Leo X. increased the
number to sixty-five, and Sixtus V., in 1586, pro-
claimed the constitution which has continued in
operation ever since, and by which the maximum
number of cardinals was fixed at seventy, six of whom
must be cardinal bishops, governing the suburban
sees around Rome, fifty cardinal priests (of whom the
Cardinal-Archbishop of Sydney is one) holding titles
of churches in Rome, and fourteen cardinal deacons.
The reigning Pontiff has the sole appointment of
•cardinals, and whilst all the great Christian nations of
Europe have representatives in the Sacred College, the
Italian cardinals are always in the majority. They
form, as it were, the Pope's privy council, and His
Holiness, whilst under no obligation whatever to
accept their recommendations, rarely takes any im-
portant step without seeking their counsel. For the
effective governing of a world-wide organisation like
the Roman Catholic Church, an elaborate and complex
system is needed at headquarters — hence the division
of the body of cardinals into sectional committees or
*' congregations," as they are technically termed. These
master the details of all business in connection with
their respective departments and report to the

84 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

Sovereign Pontiff, who generally approves and endorses
their recommendations. The Pope is believed by
many to be the most absolute of monarchs, but, in
practice, it will be seen that he acts precisely like a
constitutional sovereign.

The " congregations" of cardinals are eleven in
number. The first is that of the consistorj'-, whose
chief duty it is to prepare all business relating to the
establishment of churches and the appointment of
bishops throughout the Catholic world. The second is
styled the Congregation of the Holy Office of the
Inquisition — words which may bring before many
minds appalling visions of Torquemada, the rack, the
dungeon, and the stake. Without going into the
delicate question whether the Inquisition of the past
deserved all that has been said or written about it, one
thing is certain, that the Inquisition, as at present
constituted, only claims to exercise jurisdiction over
the souls, and never over the bodies, of heretics.
Excommunication is the most severe punishment that
can be inflicted on the persistent heretic now-a-days.
The Congregation of the Index has the busiest time of
an}'-. The cardinals who constitute it must keep
themselves au courcmt with the literature of all
nations, and enter in the Index Fxpurgatorius the
names of all books that, from their nature and subject
matter, should be prohibited to good Catholics. In
this herculean work they have the assistance of a
number of eminent theologians called consultors. The
Congregation of Rites is a sort of supreme court of
appeal on all questions affecting the ceremonies of

GONCERNING CARDINALS. 85

religion and the uniformity of church worship. Matters
relating to ecclesiastical jurisdiction and the civil
power come under the notice of the Congregation of
Immunities, and there is a Congregation of the Council
for the interpretation of disciplinary decrees. One
congregation has special charge of the Vatican basilica,
and another composes any differences arising between
bishops and religious communities in their dioceses*
There is a congregation on discipline, to regulate the
internal affairs of monastic houses, and one on indul-
gences, to superintend the examination of relics and
inquire into their authenticity, besides suppressing any
abuses with regard to the granting of indulgences.
Last of all is the congregation in official charge of
Catholic interests in the Australian colonies, viz., the
Propaganda, whose members are entrusted with the
directing and promoting of missionary work in new
countries and distant lands. It is the prefect of this
congregation who is the official medium of communi-
cation between the Pope and the bishops of these
colonies, and for that reason his name — Cardinal
Simeoni — is most familiar to newspaper readers by
reason of its appearance from time to time at the end
of all letters of importance affecting the Catholic
Church in Australia.

The Rev. Dr. Bernard O'Reilly thus describes the
elaborate ceremonial that accompanies the creation of
a number of cardinals : —

" On a Monday morning the Pope summons the Sacred College,
and reads an allocution declaring the names of those whom he
wishes to create. * Qwid vobis videtur ?' he asks the cardinals. They
«tand forth, take, off their skull-caps, and bow their heads in assent.

86 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

When the consistory is over, one of the masters of ceremonies
carries to each newly-elected cardinal a letter from the Cardinal-
Nephew — in this case from the Cardinal-Brother, since Leo XIII.
has no Cardinal-Nephew — notifying him of his election. To those
who live away from Rome the news of the election is carried by one
of the Pope's Guard of Nobles, along with the skull-cap, or zucchetto^
The herretla is carried by an ablegate. Sometimes the cardinal's
hat is sent, but very seldom, that being a mark of great distinction,
granted only to the relatives of sovereigns. The cardinals-elect who-
are present in Rome go in the afternoon to visit the Cardinal-
Brother of the Pope, and at his house they assume the cardinal'*
habits, but not the mozzetta and berretta, which are laid upon them
by the Pope himself, when they go to see him a little later, intro-
duced by his brother, Cardinal Pecci. On leaving the Pope'*
ante-chamber each new cardinal gets his zucchetto, which is presented
to him on a silver tray by one of the servants of His Holiness. If
any sovereigns happen to be sojourning in Rome at the time, the
new cardinals go to pay them a visit, starting in a body from the
Apostolic Palace, On the following Friday a second consistory
takes place, to which the new cardinals are admitted. At the
second consistory some business is done, generally the appointment
of bishops for vacant churches or dioceses. Before nominating the
bishops, the Pope closes the mouth (Clauditos) of each new cardinal,,
and at the end of the session opens their mouths again, giving them
the right to express their opinion in the meeting, to vote, and also
to receive their piatto Cardinalizio, or income. This is 4000 scudi,.
nearly £800. Their mouths being opened, the new cardinals
receive from the Pope the hat, the cardinal's ring, and the title ot
their respective church or deaconry."

There is one very important function of his office-
which Cardinal Moran will find it impossible to
discharge, unless, indeed, the dream of some enthusiasts
is realised, and it will be possible, by some marvellous
application of electricity as a motive power, to travel
from Sydney to Rome in less than a fortnight. The
Dublin Bevieiu, in referring to the elevation of Dr.
M'Closkey, Archbishop of New York, to the cardinalate
a few years ago, said : —

" It was probably on account of the great distance from Rome,
and the impossibility of arriving there in time for a conclave, that

CONCERNING CARDINALS. 87

no American has ever before been created a cardinal, but this
objection has of course been to a great extent removed by the
increased facilities of locomotion."

If the objection has been removed in the case of
America, it certainly continues to apply in the case of
Australia, and Cardinal Moran's only chance of voting
in the election of a Pope will be the lucky accident of
his happening to be on a visit to Europe at the time.
When a Pope dies, all the cardinals are summoned to
the conclave by one of the secretaries to the Sacred
College, and the election of a successor must begin on
the tenth day after the decease of the late Pope. To con-
stitute a valid election, the new Pontiff must have a
two-thirds majority of the votes of the Sacred College.

Sydney being now the cardinalatial city of Greater
Britain, a brief glance backwards at some of the wearers
of the red hat in the parent country may fittingly be
taken. It appears from Mr. Folkestone Williams' two
volumes of " Lives of the English Cardinals " that there
hare been altogether some 40 cardinals of English birth.
First mention is due to Nicolas Breakspeare, Abbot of
St. Albans, created Cardinal-Bishop of Albano by Pope
Eugenius III. in 1146. Two years afterwards he was
appointed Papal Legate in Sweden, Norway, and Den-
mark, and in November, 1154, he was elected Pope —
the only Englishman who has yet sat in the chair of
Peter. He is known in history as Pope Adrian IV.,
Herbert of Bosham, the name of a monastery four
miles from Chichester, was created a cardinal in 1178
by Pope Alexander III. He is the author of a biography
of his friend, St. Thomas of Canterbury, Stephen
Langton, the great English political churchman

88 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION:

of the Magna Charta era, became Archbishop of
Canterbury in 1206, and a few years afterwards
was created a cardinal by Innocent III. Later
on in the same century another Archbishop of Canter-
bury, Kobert Kilwardby, was similarly honoured by
Nicholas III. Thomas Joyce, a fellow-student of St,
Thomas Aquinas, and afterwards confessor to Edward
II., was raised to the cardiualate by Clement V. in
1305. After the lapse of more than half-a-century,
Simon Langham, who was Abbot of Westminster,
Bishop of Ely, and Archbishop of Canterbury in
succession, was made a cardinal priest in 1368 by
Urban V. Ten years later Adam Eston, Bishop of
London, was presented with a red hat by Urban VL,
and this seems to have been the first occasion on which
the English metropolis was thus complimented by the
Popes. Philip Repingdon, Abbot of Leicester, and
Chancellor of the Universit}'- of Oxford in 1400, was
made a cardinal by Gregory XII. in 1408. He was
also the Bishop of Lincoln, and the founder of Lincoln
College, Oxford. Robert Hallam, another Chancellor
of Oxford University, became Bishop of Salisbury in
1407, and was elevated to the cardiualate in four years'
time. He died whilst in attendance at the Council ot
Constance. Henry Beaufort, the second son of John
of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, was successively Bishop
of Lincoln, Bishop of Winchester, and Lord High
Chancellor of England. Pope Martin V, made him a
cardinal in 1418. John Kempe, who was in turn
Bishop of Rochester, Chichester, and London, an
ambassador to France and Scotland, Archbishop of

CONCERNING CARDINALS. 89

York and Canterbury, and twice Lord Chancellor,
was created a cardinal bishop in 1452. His two
immediate successors in the See of Canterbury,
Thomas Bouchier and John Morton, were also
promoted to the cardinalate. Christopher Bainbridge,
Archbishop of York in 1508, and an ambassador of
Henry VIII., was made a cardinal by Julius II. in
1511. Thomas Wolsey, who has been immortalised by
the genius of Shakespeare, was bishop of Lincoln in
1514, and afterwards Archbishop of York and Lord
High Chancellor of England. Pope Leo X. created him
a cardinal in 1516. John Fisher, the only cardinal who
was martyred for the Catholic faith in England, was
professor of theology in the University of Cambridge
and Bishop of Rochester. Refusing to adopt the
principles of the Reformation, he was imprisoned in
1534, and executed on June 22 of the following year.
His body was buried in the Chapel of the Tower of
London. Reginald Pole, Archbishop of Canterbury
and Papal Legate to England in 1554, was called to
the Sacred College by Pope Paul III. ; and William
Allen, the founder of the English College at Douay, in
France, which gave to the world the well-known
Catholic version of the Sacred Scriptures, received the
red hat from Sixtus V., in 1587. Philip Howard, third
son of Lord Mowbray, was one of the chaplains to
Queen Catherine of Braganza, but he left England
through an outbreak of persecution, and founded a
Dominican monastery in Flanders. Clement X. made
him a cardinal in 1675. One of the last survivors of the
ill-fated Royal House of Stuart was Henry Benedict

90 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

Clement Stuart, Cardinal of York, who became Bishop
of Frascati in 1760, and dean of the Sacred College.
He lived until the seventh year of the present century.
After his decease the only representatives of England
in the Sacred College were Cardinals Weld and Acton,
until in 1850 Pope Pius IX. restored the hierarchy in
England, and placed Cardinal Wiseman at its head.
His successor in the see of Westminster is Cardinal
Manning, and there is another English member of the
Sacred College in the person of Cardinal Howard, once
an oflEicer in the Queen's Life Guards, and now an erudite
bishop in the vicinity of Rome. But the most distin-
guished Englishman wearing the red hat is Cardinal
John Henry Newman. He is the oldest member of the
Sacred College, being now in his 85th year. Sydney
honoured itself in honouring him with a gift fashioned
out of Australian gold when he was called to be a
Prince of his Church.

CATHOLICITY IN AUSTRALIA.

A History of the Commencement and Progress of Catho-
licity IN Australia, by the Very Rev. Dian Kennt.
Sydney: F. Cunninghame and Go. 18S6.

This is a book that will be warmly welcomed by the
Catholics of the colonies. It is the first systematic
effort that has been made to arrange in regular chro-
nological order the striking scenes and incidents that
make up the early history of the Church on this
continent. . In simple and studiously unadorned lan-
guage, without a particle of that picturesque writing
in which too many historians indulge at the expense of
truth and justice, its author has produced a narrative
that will be highly useful and instructive in the days to
come. Dean Kenny possesses some special qualifica-
tions for the office of historian of his Church in these
lands. As a young student he accompanied the first
Roman Catholic Bishop of Australia (Dr. Folding) to
Sydney in the year 1835, and he appears to have
been a close observer of the events transpiring around
him during his residence of half-a-century in the
parent colony. He has also been a diligent seeker
after information in old newspapers, books, and
periodicals, and some of the incidents he has thus
brought to light will be of value for future reference.

<)2 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION:

For instance, it is not generally known that oratorio
music was heard for the first time in Australia on
21st September, 1836, in St, Mary's Roman Catholic
Cathedral, Sydney, which had an audience of 1000 on
the occasion. The conductor was the afterwards
celebrated Vincent Wallace, the composer of one of
the most popular of English operas, " Maritana." The
principal selections were from Handels "Messiah"
and Hay^dn's " Creation." No mention of this inte-
resting historical incident is made in Mr, Henniker-
Heaton's " Australian Dictionary of Dates," that com-
piler commencing his record of Australian music with
the entry — " Vincent Wallace left Sydney, 14th
February, 1838." This first volume of Dean Kenny's
History is very properly dedicated to Dr. Ullathorne,
the present octogenarian Bishop of Birmingham, in
England, and the man who, by his fiery zeal and
•energy, succeeded in firmly establishing Catholicity
<m this continent 54 years ago. "By your writings,"
says Dean Kenny, addressing Dr, Ullathorne, " you
informed Europe of the restraints of the Catholics in
this far-distant land and their spiritual destitution.
You travelled in all parts to obtain an abundant
supply of priests, You brought from the colleges and
the universities of Ireland and the continent bands of
-zealous and enlightened missionaries, who spread the
faith everywhere and covered the land with churches.
You exposed the inhuman treatment of your fellow-
man by those who were in power, and greatly
contributed to the amelioration of his unfortunate
condition," This last sentence is an allusion to Dr,

CATHOLICITY IN AUSTRALIA. 93

XJllathorne's book, entitled " The Horrors of Trans-
portation," to which Marcus Clarke has acknowledged
his indebtedness for some of the realistic incidents of
"His Natural Life." Dean Kenny concludes the
dedication of his book to Dr. Ullathorne in these
words : — " Many years have passed since you bade
farewell to the Australian shores, but never ought the
Catholic Church of Australia to forget those days
when, in all the vigour of your great intellect, you
laboured so earnestly and incessantly for her welfare."
The histoi'ian informs us that there is very little on
record concerning the Catholics in the early days of
the parent colony, save that one-third of the prisoners
belonged to that denomination. Some statistics, he
says, were kept, but they did not show the relative
numbers of the various denominations, and the entire
population was practically regarded as belonging to
the Church of England. A French priest, Pere
Reccveur, accompanied the expedition of La Perousein
the capacity of naturalist, but he died on 17th February
1788, in Sydney Harbour, from wounds received
during an encounter with the natives of the Navigator
Islands. Five years afterwards, in March, 1793,
another visiting priest, who was chaplain on board a
Spanish vessel, was astonished to find that no Catholic
church existed in Sydney, and declared that, " had a
settlement been made by his nation, a house for the
service of God would have been erected before any
habitation for man." It was not until 1799 that
the first resident Roman Catholic clergymen came to
Sydney. In that year three priests — Fathers Dixon,

S4 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

Harold and O'Neil — and one Protestant clergyman
— the Rev. Mr. Fulton — were transported as political
prisoners to New South Wales for their alleged
connection with the Irish rebellion of 1798. Father
O'Neil's innocence having been proved to the satis-
faction of the Imperial authorities, he was liberated,
and returned to Ireland in 1802. Father Dixon
remained in Sydney, and received the sanction of the
•colonial Government, as well as the approbation of his
ecclesiastical superiors, to minister to the spiritual
requirements of the Catholics of the colony. Father
Harold was simultaneously stationed at Norfolk Island
where he officiated for some time. In his proclamation
on the subject. Governor King states that he has,
^' judged it expedient and admissible, in consequence of
a communication from His Majesty's Principal Secre-
tary of State for the Colonies and the War Department,
to grant unto the Rev. John Dixon a conditional
emancipation, to enable him to discharge his clerical
functions as a Roman Catholic priest, which he has
qualified himself for by the regular and exemplary
conduct he has manifested since his residence in the
colony, and his having taken the oath of allegiance,
abjuration, and declaration prescribed by law." The
emancipated priest continued his ministrations until a
report reached the Government that his congregations
were in reality gatherings of ti-aitors and would-be rebels,
and, without any proper enquiry being instituted, the
permission to hold Catholic services was withdrawn by
an order in the Gazette. A convict outbreak did occur
aoon afterwards, and Fr. Dixon, according to our

CATHOLICITY IN AUSTRALIA. 95

historian, " accompanied the commanding officer, and
exerted himself nobly on the side of order and
humanity." After this occurrence, Fr. Dixon was so
hampered in the performance'of his clerical functions by
Governmental restrictions that he resolved to leave the
colony, which he did in the year 1808. Fr. Harold
left Norfolk Island to fill the vacancy in Sydney, but
in less than a year the hostility of the Government
compelled him to follow the example of his predecessor.
During the interval between his departure, in 1808,
and the arrival of Archpriest O'Flynn, in 1817, there
was no Catholic clergyman on this continent. Arch-
priest O'Flynn was the first Catholic ecclesiastic to
come to Australia with a direct commission from
Rome, but he either forgot or failed to appreciate the
importance of bringing with him some credentials from
the Home Government. This was a fatal omission in
the then circumstances of the colony. He was arrested,
imprisoned, and deported to England by the first ship.
This harsh treatment caused a sensation on his arrival
in the home country, and the action of Governor
Macquarie in the matter was brought before the House
of Lords by Lord Bathurst, and severely censured in
the House of Commons by Lord Donoughmore. How-
ever, out of evil came good, and the result of the
parliamentary discussion was the appointment of two
priests, with fixed Government salaries, to proceed to
New South Wales and attend to the religious wants of
the Roman Catholics. These were the Revs. J. J.
Therry and P. Connelly. The former had just been
ordained in Carlow College, after a distinguished

96 CHEISTMAS COLLECTION.

academic career. He had a conversation with the
banished Archpriest O'Flynn, and learning from him
the spiritual destitution of distant Australia, at once
volunteered for missionary work amongst its neglected
Catholic inhabitants. Bearing credentials from the
Home Government, and with assured salaries of £100
per annum, Fr. Therry and his comrade arrived in
Sydney about the middle of 1820. They obtained an
interview with Governor Macquarie, to whom they
presented their official letters of introduction. It was
agreed that Fr. Therry should remain in Sydney,
whilst his colleague made the settlement at Hobart
Town, the scene of his future labours. In less than
two months after his landing, Fr. Therry had orga-
nised a meeting to take steps for the erection of a church
and on 29th October, 1821, Governor Macquarie laid
the foundation stone of the old St. Mary's Cathedral
of Sydney. The Governor said to Fr. Therry on
that occasion : " I receive from your hands with much
pleasure, in your own name and that of your Roman
Catholic brethren of New South Wales, the very
handsome silver trowel now presented to me, and I
feel myself very much honoured in having been thus
selected to make use of this instrument in laying the
first stone of the first Roman Catholic chapel to be
erected in Australia." It is somewhat curious that
the gentleman who uttered this sentiment was the
same gentleman who, a few years previously, had
ordered the arbitrary proceedings against the luckless
Ai'chpriest O'Flynn. Our historian. Dean Kenny,
warmly eulogises the general administration of

CATHOLICITY IN AUSTRALIA. 97

Macquarie, whilst finding fault with his policy towards
the religious denominations other than the Church of
England. Fr. Therry laboured devotedly for five
years in the settled districts of New South Wales
without clerical assistance until Fr. Power came to
his help in 1826. The Eev. John M'Encroe was the
next to arrive, and in 1832 came the energetic young
Yorkshire priest, who is now Bishop Ullathorne of
Birmingham. At that time, ludicrous as it looks in
the light of after events, the whole of Australia was
only an ecclesiastical appanage of the small island of
Mauritius, and Dr. Ullathorne arrived in Sydney in
the capacity of Vicar-General under the jurisdiction of
Dr. Slater, the then Bishop of Mauritius. With
characteristic zeal and earnestness he buckled to the
work of organising his Church in Australia and
buildinof it on a sure foundation. His efforts were so
continuous and successful that the new Governor, Sir
Richard Bourke, wrote to the home authorities that
" Fr. Ullathorne was giving every satisfaction, and
had secured the confidence of the Catholic popula-
tion." Thanks to Dr. Ullathorne's abounding energy,
much of the rough work of organisation was accom-
plished by the time that Dr. Folding, the first Catholic
Bishop of Australia, arrived in Sydney on 13th Sep-
tember, 1835, in company with three additional priests
and four ecclesiastical students, of whom the author
of the history under notice was one. Dr. Folding was
installed on the Sunday after his arrival. His diocese
embraced the whole eastern half of Australia, as well
as the island of Tasmania. The year after his arrival

98 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

a census was taken, which showed the Catholic
population of New South Wales to be 21,898, and
Tasmania 7000. Our author gives a not very pleasing
picture of the state of society in Sydney at that
time. " Like a true missionary, the first object of
the bishop was to reform the morals of his people,
and enforce the discipline of the Church. Vice was
to be removed ; many were at variance with the laws
of God and His Church ; intemperance was very
prevalent, with all its attendant evils ; the marriage
bond was not respected, and licentiousness of manners
was general ; there was much fraudulency and over-
reaching in business ; yet there were those — not a
few in the Catholic community — whose conduct was
most exemplary and who flourished in faith and
virtue." In his first report to the Propaganda in
Rome Dr. Folding said : — " From week to week we
have been employed in hearing the general confessions
of individuals, who, on account of their circumstances,
or through negligence, have remained immersed in sin
for 40 or 50 years, and even a longer time. In the
course of a few months there was a visible change in
the entire population, it being impossible that a
reform such as this could take place in one-third of
the population without producing a certain effect on
the remainder. In consequence the public authorities
acknowledged that there was an amelioration, judging
from the general tranquillity throughout the colony,
and from the diminution of public crime." The
bishop administered the sacrament of confirmation for
the first time on Sunday, 28th February, 1836, and it

CATHOLICITY IN AUSTRALIA. 99

is a notable circumstance that amongst those who
received the rite were sixty or seventy soldiers of the
l7th Regiment, which was then stationed in Sydney.
His first ordination service was on the 8th of May in
the same year, when the Revs. T. C. Sumner and H.
G. Gregory were raised to the order of deacon. Next
day Fr. Sumner was ordained a priest, and he was
thus the first Roman Catholic clergyman ordained on
Australian soil. The day after this ordination, Dr.
Ullathorne set sail for Europe in order to procure
more priests to labour on the Australian mission. He
secured two who were destined to play an important
part in the future history of the Church in Australia,
viz., the Rev. James A. Goold, the late Archbishop of
Melbourne, and the Rev. John Brady, who became the
first Bishop of Perth in Western Australia. They
arrived in Sydney on 24th February, l^SS, having, as
their fellow- voyager from the old land, the new
Governor, Sir George Gipps. A few months after-
wards, on 15th July, 1838, a second contingent landed
from the barque Cecilia. It consisted of the Revs. F.
Murphy (afterwards fi.rst Bishop of Adelaide), M.
O'Reilly, J, Fitzpatrick, E, Mahoney, J. Lynch, J.
Rigney, M. Brenan and Thomas Slattery, who was for
many years Dean of Warrnambool in this colony. Of
this pioneer band of young missionaries, two alone
survive — Dr. Fitzpatrick, the venerable and respected
Vicar-General of the Archdiocese of Melbourne, and
the Ven. Archdeacon Rigney, of Parramatta, New
South Wales. After an absence of two years and a
half, during which he published in London his book

100 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

on " The Catholic Mission in Australia," Dr. UUathorne
returned to New South Wales at the end of 1838,
bringing with him thi-ee more priests, three ecclesiastical
students, and five Sisters of Charity, the latter being
the first nuns to land in Australia. One of the priests he
brought with him was the E.ev. P. B. Geoghegan, the
first resident Roman Catholic clergyman in Melbourne,
and a gentleman who was for years very popular
amongst all denominations in this city. Dr. Geoghegan's
last Victorian charge was at Williamstown, whence he
was promoted to the bishopric of Adelaide on 8th
September, 1859. Owing to the energy, ability, and
persuasive powers of Dr. UUathorne in the home
countr}^, the Australian Church was now fairly well
officered, and in a position to start satisfactorily on its
career of progress. Dr. Folding proudly announced
to his congregation in Sydney : — " The mission of our
beloved Vicar-General, Dr. UUathorne, has been
attended with the most beneficial results. His zeal,
activity, and piety have created an extensive
sympathy in our favour. Zealous, active, and pious
labourers in the Lord's vineyard have beheld our
wants, and have hastened to come to our succour.
Our people are no longer as sheep gone astray in the
absence of pastors. The cry of our little ones for
bread — the bread of eternal life — will not be in vain,
for there are those now who will break it unto them.
The spirit of God hath filled with courage, not
belonging to their sex, excellent ladies, who, deeming
all things of small account in comparison to gaining
souls to Christ, have, fearlessly traversing the ocean,

CATHOLICITY IN AUSTRALIA. 101

come amongst us to consummate their sacrifice of
charity on these shores in the abodes of sorrow and
guilt." At the close of the year 1840, where Dean
Kenny's History ends for the present, the Catholic
population of New South Wales numbered 35,690
souls, whose spiritual requirements were attended to
by twenty-four priests. Nine churches were com-
pleted, six were in course of erection, and there were
ten small chapels in various parts of the colony
Thei'e is an appendix to the present volume, giving a
short account of the aborigines of Australia, and an
interesting narrative of the efforts made by the Roman
Catholic Church to evangelise them. The most
remarkable and successful movement in this direction
has been achieved by a community of Benedictine
monks, established by the Right Rev. Dr. Salvado,
about 20 years ago at New Norsia, on the Victoria
Plains, fifty miles from Perth, the capital of Western
Australia. This evangelising agency continues to
flourish, and to reclaim the natives of both sexes from
barbarism. Lady Barker, who recently visited the
institution, gives a glowing and appreciative descrip-
tion of the place in her recently-published " Letters to
Guy." And another very competent judge. Miss
Florence Nightingale, did not hesitate to say that " in
no part of the world have they succeeded in educating
and civilising the savage races except in the Bene-
dictine monastery of New Norsia." This unique
monastery is still ruled by its venerable founder. Dr.
Salvado, and no less than sixty monks and lay
brothers are associated under its roof in the noble

102 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

work of evangelisation. On the average, 300 blacks
are living at the establishment, gaining rudimentary
knowledge, learning the principal points of Catholic
doctrine, and making themselves proficient in their
favourite trades. The place may be best described as
a monastic colony, comprising a beautiful church,
separate schools for the native boys and girls, houses
and workshops for the adult aborigines,a fully-equipped
hospital, and a number of granaries to store the
produce of the hundreds of acres that are regularly
cultivated by the monks and their little army of
black helpers. But the most striking and gratifying
feature in connection with the New Norsia mission is
the fact, testified to by unimpeachable witnesses, that
the natives educated and christianised there never
return to a state of savagery, but pursue with success
the trades they have learned from the good Bene-
dictine monks. An experience like this stands out
with exceptional prominence against the dark back-
ground of failure which is presented by the great
majority of missions to the heathen. By reason of
the remoteness and the inaccessibility of New Norsia,.
and the quiet, unostentatious manner in which Dr.
Salvado and his coadjutors have achieved such
unparalleled results, a great many Australian
Catholics are in absolute ignorance of the existence of
an institution that is perhaps the greatest triumph of
Catholicity in these colonies. It is something to be
proud of that, during an ordinary lifetime, the
ecclesiastical scene was changed from the solitary
archpriest, hiding in Sydney to escape the persecution

CATHOLICITY IN AUSTRALIA. 103

of the governing authorities, to the brilliant ceremonial
which the same city witnessed at the close of last
year, when a Cardinal Archbishop and fifteen
Australian prelates assembled in Plenary Council. But,
to the reflecting mind, that truly majestic monastery
on the distant plains of Western Australia, silently
and steadily doing a work that numbers in many
lands have tried and failed to accomplish, is something
to be still more proud of.

AN AUSTRALIAN LITERARY TRIO.

The Marcus Clarke Memorial Volume. Melbourne : Cameron,

Laing and Co. 1884'
A Forgotten Genius, by H. T. Mackenzie Bell. 62 Paternoster

Row, London, E.C.: Elliot Stock. I884.
The Life, Spebches, and Writings of Daniel Henry Denieht,

BY E. A. Martin. Melbourne and Sydney : George Robertson

and Co. I884.
The Legislative Assembly of Victoria recently discussed
a motion in favour of a national grant of £1000 to
the widow and children of Marcus Clarke, the author
of the only colonial work of fiction that has attained a
world-wide celebrity. On the first division, the
motion was carried at the close of a generally sym-
pathetic debate, but at a subsequent stage the friends
of the proposal were unfortunately not present in their
full strength, the consequence being that it was left in
a minority of three. But despite this accidental
decision, it cannot be denied that the whole tenor of
the discussion showed clearly that Parliament is being
educated up to the importance of encouraging the
growth of a native literature, and the day is not far
distant when a national grant to the surviving repre-
sentatives of Marcus Clarke will be carried without a
dissentient voice. Hitherto, such grants have been the
reward of political services exclusively, and it is
matter for congratulation that the discovery has at
length been made that a man of genius may serve his
country as faithfully and as well by the exercise of a

AN AUSTRALIAN LITERARY TRIO. 105

luminous pen as by the use of a voluminous tongue.
Indeed, as regards the power and the permanency of
their work, there is no comparison between the two.
The successful politician in these southern lands does
not contribute a tithe of the benefits that are bestowed
by the gifted litterateur who gains the ear of the
reading world at home and abroad, and who presents
in an irresistibly attractive form to the crowded
peoples of northern nations the historical growth, the
inherent strength, the marvellous progress, the
abounding resources, and the promising future of the
new world at the antipodes. But this fact has never
yet been adequately recognised, and, as a consequence,
Australian authors have received but scant encourage-
ment from the people amongst whom they dwelt, and
for whom they expended all their energies. Perhaps
this was not a studied or intentional neglect. The
first half-century of every people's existence is usually
a period of toil and trouble, of clearing away and
building up, with but little time to devote to intel-
lectual recreations. It is hard for a native literature
to flourish under such unfavourable conditions. But
now that the colonies are entering on their career as
consolidated communities, more leisure will be avail-
able for leading the higher intellectual life of civilised
nations, and it may be hoped that such a reproach as
this, uttered by the hon. member for West Melbourne,
will be speedily removed : — " Everything in this
country is protected with the solitary exception of
brains. Parliament has never done anything to
encourage literature or talent." That many members

106 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION-

of the Legislative Assembly of Victoria are sin-
cerely anxious to remove this reproach was
evidenced by the applause that greeted the
incidental allusions to the desirability of giving
every encouragement to the development of
colonial literary talent. Mr. Reid, the member for
Fitzroy, made this consideration one of his chief
arguments in support of his motion for a State grant
of £1000 to the widow and children of Marcus Clarke.
Such a recognition of departed worth, he maintained,
" would help to foster a love of literary work among
the young people of the colony, when they knew that,
if great literary services were rendered by them, a
grateful country would not forget them, but would
see that the wives and children they might leave were
provided for." As Professor Pearson pointed out in
the same debate, it is not likely that another Marcus
Clarke will arise in the colonies for many a day.
Nevertheless, there can be no two opinions as to the
wisdom of holding out every legitimate inducement to
the development of a native school of Australian
literature.

The three books whose titles are given at the head
of this paper, and which were issued almost simul-
taneously from the press, are intended to commemorate
the careers of three of the ill-fated founders of the
republic of letters in the dominion of Australasia.
They are the posthumous tribute of praise to a
luckless litei-ary trio. Marcus Clarke, Charles White-
head, and Daniel Henry Deniehy were pioneers of
the pen, and they suffered the hard fate that apparently

AN AUSTRALIAN LITERARY TRIO. 107

befalls the majority of pioneers in every department
of life. They wrote for unappreciative eyes ; their
talents went unrewarded in life^ and they dropped
into premature graves. It is only now when they
are gone for ever that they are estimated at their true
value, and that elaborate literary monuments are
being erected to perpetuate their memories. No
doubt, they each and all hastened their end by their
own indiscretions, but it should be remembered that
their indiscretions were aggravated and intensified by
the isolation and the indifierence of which they were
the centre. With happier surroundings, with a wider
appreciation, with an income proportionate to the
work they accomplished, with an ampler field for the
exercise of their great abilities, how different their
fate might have been !

The selections that comprise the major portion of
the " Marcus Clarke Memorial Volume" leave no room
to doubt the wonderful versatility of Australia's only
novelist. In depicting, with photographic accuracy of
detail, the pathetic and humorous incidents that
diversify the lonely life of the Australian bush, in
keenly satirising the Melbourne follies of his time, in
presenting to the mind's eye an appalling panorama
of the dismal horrors of the early convict era, in
throwing: a halo of absorbing interest around the
scenes and events incidental to the colonising epoch,
and in anticipating Hugh Conway by the dexterous
introduction of psychological problems into the realms
of fiction, Marcus Clarke is equally at home,
equally successful, and equally powerful. The

108 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

authorship of " His Natural Life" — that thrilling
and tragic romance of a buried Australian past — will
of course be his chief claim to the admiration of
posterity, but at the same time it will be little less
than a national calamity if those shorter stories and
sketches of his, founded on brighter and pleasanter
themes, are allowed to escape observation and to fall
into oblivion. They can in no sense be regarded as
literature of the ordinary ephemeral cast. As precious
pen-portraits of characteristic types of Australian
humanity of the first generation, and as faithful
transcripts of phases of bush life that are being
obliterated by the effacing fingers of time and the
onward march of progress, they will be of the highest
historical value to colonial students of the days to
come. Casting a retrospective glance at Marcus
Clarke's Melbourne literary career of thirteen years'
duration, and the amount of sterling work that he
accomplished during so comparatively bi'ief a period,
the universal feeling will be one of poignant regret at
Australia having been bereft of the full fruits of the
maturity of his genius, and that fate should have
decreed his descent into the grave at the early age of
thirty-five.

The career of Charles Whitehead, the "forgotten
genius" whom Mr. Mackenzie Bell has resurrected
from the literary tomb, is a sad, a strange, and a
striking one. Once a London author of high repute,
the intimate friend of Charles Dickens, William M.
Thackeray, Leigh Hunt, and Douglas Jerrold, he
unfortunately injured his prospects and alienated his

AN AUSTRALIAN LITERARY TRIO. 109

acquaintances in the old land by a too-ready recourse
to stimulants. His temperament was apparently akin
to that of Edgar Allan Poe— high- wrought, sensitive,
and nervous — and impelled him in moments of
despondency to seek courage and confidence from the
most treacherous of all allies. With the hope and
intent of conquering this weakness of his nature, and
making a fresh start in life in a new world, he
emigrated to Australia during the goldfields era, and
recommenced his literary career in Melbourne. But
there was no opening in the Melbourne of that time
for a man of his lofty original genius ; his great
abilities found no encouragement or scope for their
exercise ; he suffered in consequence all the miseries of
poverty and neglect, until one morning he fell down
exhausted in a street of the Victorian capital, was
carried to the Melbourne Hospital, where he soon
died, and from which his lonely remains were taken
to a pauper's grave in the Melbourne Cemetery,
where they have remained unmarked for well-nigh a
quarter of a century. Young as colonial cities are,
they already have their life tragedies, and this is one
of the most remarkable of them. Of the thousands
who annually walk through the Melbourne Cemetery^
how many are aware that within its enclosure lies all
that is mortal of the gifted man who wrote " Richard
Savage," one of the cleverest of modern novels ; " The
Solitary," a noble specimen of Spenserian verse ; " The
Cavalier," one of the most successful dramas of its day ;
"Jasper Brooke," a metrical romance of striking power
and intensity ; " The Memoirs of Grimaldi" and " The

no CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

Earl of Essex," an historical story of a higli order of
excellence? These are works that fully justify the
dictum of the London Athenceum, that Charles
Whitehead " is deserving of resurrection," and the com-
pliment of the Contemporary Review, that Mr.
Mackenzie Bell " has done a real service in introducing
to us a man of true genius."

It was likewise the sad fate of Daniel Henry
Deniehy — the last of this luckless literary trio, and
perhaps the most brilliant of them all — to end the
battle of life in the streets of an Australian city, and
to die in the nearest hospital. No one could have
foreseen that a career which opened under such
exceptionall}' happy and promising conditions was
destined to so melancholy and premature a close. A
native of the mother city of the colonies, Deniehy
spent the early years of his budding manhood on the
Continent, eagerly drinking at the fountains of
knowledge in the historic capitals of the old world,
and gathering up those stores of classical, artistic, and
linguistic lore which he afterwards dispensed to the
most enlightened and appreciative audiences that ever
assembled in his native Australian metropolis by the
blue waters of Port Jackson. Embracins: the law as
a profession, he speedily developed an oratorical
talent that naturally caused him to be regarded as a
man who would assuredly achieve eminence in the
political sphere, and, though he resisted the solici-
tations of his friends for some time, he at length acted
on their advice, and in his twenty-eighth year entered
the Parliament of New South Wales as member for

AN AUSTRALIAN LITERARY TRIO. Ill

Argyle. With the wisdom that invariably comes
-after the event, it was subsequently discovered that if
these pertiuaceous friends had only allowed the rising
young lawyer to establish, himself firmly in his pro-
fession before prompting him to the service of his
■country, some of the disasters that eventually over-
whelmed the object of their admiration would, in all
human probability, have been averted. And it is in a
great measure due to his having spent the best years
of his life in barren political warfare that his literary
achievements bear so small a proportion to the extent
of his natural gifts and the variety of his acquired
attainments. " His genius has developed itself in no
-adequate degree, and in no work commensurate with
its power," was the phrase he employed in reviewing
the life-work of Edward Whitty, the author of the
" Friends of Bohemia," and it is no less true of
Deniehy himself Still, if we have not quantity in
the literary relics of Deniehy, we have quality rich
and rare. Australian literature will be searched in
vain for critical essays of the calibre of several that
are enshrined in his memorial volume. He is
unquestionably the Macaulay of the antipodes. His
well-balanced estimates of the place in the literary
firmament of De Quincey, Washington Irving, Leigh
Hunt, George Sand, and other luminaries of the first
half of our century, are distinguished alike for their
analytical insight, scholarly taste, and discerning
judgment. His versatile genius and the studious
application of his early years enabled him to write
lucidly and learnedly on a variety of European

112 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

literatures, and to interpret to the less-instructed mind
with surprising clearness and effect the poetic languages
of music, painting, architecture, and sculpture.
It is saddening to reflect on the unrealised possibilities
of such a richly-endowed intellect. A man whose
fugitive writings earned the warm commendation of
so capable a critic and author as the first Lord Lyttou,
was surely qualified to bequeath to future generations
of Australian natives a series of works that they
would not willingly let die. And who knows but
that if Deniehy had accepted the generous invitation
of the author of" Pelham" to come to London, where,
" I am satisfied," wrote Lord Lytton, " a splendid
future awaits you,"- he would have shaken himself
free from the despotism of drink — a terrible tyranny
that had been largely induced by the cruel kindness
of his early worshippers, and would have built up
for himself a national instead of a provincial repu-
tation ? Well and truly does his biographer say that
"judging from the few evidences that he has left
behind, and from the testimony of contemporaries,
men of keen critical skill and worldly shrewdness, I
think that, with all his follies and failings, his short-
comings and his grievous falling away from the
promise of early days, as a scholar, a philosopher, an
orator, and a litterateur, this ' New Brittania' has not
yet given birth to his equal."

Remembering that the literature of every land has
to pass through a critical and chrysalis stage, when
its professors must struggle as best they can against
all the adverse influences arrayed against them.

AN AUSTRALIAN LITERARY TRIO. lib

Australians generally will need no rerainder of the
debt of honour they owe to the memories of a Marcus
Clarke, a Lindsay Gordon, a Henry Kendall, a Charles
Whitehead, and a Daniel Henry Deniehy. Now that
colonial literature is gradually emerging into the sun-
light, it would be the height of ingratitude if we, as a
nation, forgot the services of the men who, despite their
personal failings and periodical stumbles, succeeded in
this one thing at least — in keeping the torch alight
through the dark and dreary past. Australian natives
have their faults, but ingratitude is not one of them.

MELBOURNE'S EARLY RIVAL.
Sir Henry Parkes has admittedly achieved some
distinction as a politician ; but, as a prophet, he has
not been particularly successful. Time has taken a
mischievous delight in falsifying almost every one of
his elaboratel3^-oracular and high-sounding predictions
of the future greatness of Geelong, uttered 36 years
ago in his juvenile poetical indiscretion entitled
" Murmurs of the Stream."

A passing stranger in thy streets,

A self-willed vagrant 'midst thy throng,
Whom none will bless of all he meets,
His blessing pours on thee, Geelong ;
Mayst thou wax great — each age more strong
In mind and heart.
Oh, spots more beautiful there are.

For home's sweet sake, for heroes' deeds ;
Where woman has been true as fair —

Where men have died for trampled creeds —
Spots lovelier far for all that pleads
With man's proud heart.
But thou art as a destined queen,

Yet parted from her certain throne ;
ii rand cities of the past have been.
But future ages thee shall own.
As of earth's empress cities one —
A nation's heart.

The poet, penetrating with seer-like vision the veil
of futurity, proceeds to contemplate the days when —

" Men of generous thought and iron nerve
Will win a world-wide fame for thee."

Possibly Sir Henry may claim that he has scored a

point in this particular part of his prophecy, inasmuch

MELBOURNE'S EARLY RIVAL. 115

as Sir Graham Berry, Geelong's chosen political chief
for many years, was known as the " man with the iron
frame," but, unfortunately, it is matter of notoriety
that the late leader of the Libei'al party in Victoria
did not exert himself very much to " win a world-wide
fame" for his constituency. The majority of the
Geelongese make no secret of their belief that
Sir Graham did very little indeed to advance
the town into prominence, considering the large
opportunities he had as the head of several
powerful Governments. Far be it from us to doubt
that " maidens rivalling Edeu's blooms" are to be met
with in the streets of Geelong, but we are prepared to
make an affidavit that the most diligent search would
fail to reveal the existence of any poets there who
sing —

"In strains which Shakspeare's soul would own."

Neither would the most telescopic gaze discover the
" zone of villages" encircling " fair Corio's Bay," which
Sir Henry Parkes saw in that remarkable dream of
his ; and, as for finding " Trade's mighty heart" in the
Geelong of to-day, and seeing " commerce on her
palaced shore," the Victorian citizen who would set out
on such a mission would be unanimously regarded as
in pressing need of close watching by his friends. Sir
Henry concludes his versified epistle to Melbourne's
early rival — as he commenced it — with a benediction —

A stranger's blessing rest on thee,

Thou embryo city of Geelong ;
Thy green and sloping shores will be,

Not emblem'd by this worthless song,

But a true joy remember'd long
Within my heart.

116 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

But, after all, Sir Henry might very fairly plead
that it was not his fault, but the fault of the first
generation of Geelongese, that his prophecies were not
verified to some extent at least. Had the inhabitants
of Geelong, at the time of the gold discoveries played
their cards properly, they would unquestionably have
succeeded in placing their town in the proud position
of the capital of Victoria. They had on their side
natural advantages in which Melbourne was wofully
deficient — a capacious harbour at their very doors,
delightful scenery all around, and a large extent of rich
agricultural and pastoral country in the background.
Besides, their town was the nearest to the greatest of
goldfields (Ballarat), and the starting-point from
which thousands of adventurous young fellows
of every nationality set oflf to try their luck. To make
her temporary supremacy permanent, Geelong, in these
her early days of pride and power, should have
vigorously accomplished two objects — built a railway
to Ballarat, and improved the entrance to her
commodious harbour by cutting a deep, navigable
channel through a somewhat dangerous bar which
obstructed its mouth. But in her short-sightedness
Geelong did neither of those necessary things, and
thereby lost her golden opportunity. Instead of
connecting herself by railway with Ballarat, she
constructed a line to Melbourne and, in so doing,
committed a suicidal act ; for, when this line was soon
after carried on to Ballarat, she had the mortification
of seeing the extensive goods and passenger traflic from
the goldfields whirled past her doors en route to

MELBOURXF'S EARLY RIVAL. 117

Melbourne. Her failure to open up a safe and reliable
channel into her picturesque bay of Corio similarly
operated to her disadvantage, and was a potent factor
in transferring the bulk of her shipping to the more
safe, if less roomy and attractive, Hobson's Bay, the
harbour of Melbourne.

All the contemporary accounts go to show that
Geelong led a very gay life during her few years of
fleeting pre-eminence that followed the discovery of
gold in 1851. This was the period during which her
citizens were wont to loudly boast and prophesy that
Geelonof was destined to be " The Pivot" around which
the future progress of Victoria would revolve. In after
years, when the stern logic of events had falsified
this prediction, the injudicious boast was remembered,
and the ironical title of " The Pivot " has been the
sobriquet of Geelong ever since. Returned lucky
diggers noisily perambulated the streets, scattering
their easily- won wealth as rapidly as they had acquired
it ; proprietors of ])ublic-houses were kept busy day
and night taking money across their bars as fast as
they could handle it and give something liquid by
way of equivalent ; local teamsters made fortunes by
carrying supplies of all sorts to the diggers at
Ballarat; there was a general prodigality and reckless-
ness of expenditure ; public buildings were projected
on a colossal scale, and they remain unfinished
to this day — standing memorials of the madness of
the hour. When, in less than half-a-decade, the supply
of gold near the surface at Ballarat became exhausted,
and the light-hearted diggers could not obtain the

1 1 8 CHRIS TMA S COLL ECTIO N.

precious metal as readily as before, Geelong woke up
from her brief dreatu of splendour to find herself the
victim of the reaction and of her own neglect to look
after her best interests in the hey-day of her prosperity.
Land and property suddenly fell from the extra-
ordinarily high valuations they had reached in the days
of glitteiing glory ; ])opulation diminished ; a period of
depression ensued ; and Geelong had reluctantly to
surrender supremacy to her more fortunate rival,
Melbourne.

There is a curious dramatic incident connected with
the early rivi^lry between Melbourne and Geelong. It
occurred towards the close of the pre-separation epoch.
The Port Phillip District had only six representatives
in the distant legislature at Sydney, and these found
themselves utterly unable to prevent the misappro-
priation of the provincial revenues, or to achieve
anything substantial for the benefit of the district
they were supposed to represent. So disgusted and
disheartened did they become at the hostile attitude of
a remote and unsympathetic legislature that when their
term of office expired in 1848, only one of them — Mr.
J. F. L. Foster— sought re-election, but no candidates
came forward for the other five seats. The great
majority of the people of Melbourne were equally
disgusted and indignant at the treatment meted out
to the district by the New South Wales legislature,
and they hit on a humorous device of striking
novelty to bring the agitation for separation
to a crisis, and compel the attention of the
Imperial authorities to the grievances of the

MELBOURXE'S EARLY RIVAL. 119

province. Instead of sending Mr. Foster back to
represent them in Sydney, they elected Earl Grey,
the Secretary of State for the Colonies, as their member
by a large majority. They could not have more
wittily or efiectively exposed the sham representation
allowed them by the existing law than in making this
comical choice. But it was no laughing matter to the
Sydney Legislature, for that body could not be legally
constituted, and could not proceed with business until
dulj^-qualified representatives of the Port Phillip
District were returned. It was, therefore, ordered that
the election for the remaining five seats should be
held without delay, and Geelong was flattered with
the compliment of being chosen as the place of
nomination. The Sydney Government, no doubt,
reckoned on the rivalry between the two places
resulting in Geelong's i-eversiug the verdict pronounced
by Melbourne. And the event proved that the
surmise was correct. When this second electoral writ
was received, a public meeting was held in Melbourne,
at which representation in the Sydney Legislature was
denounced as an utter mockery, and it was resolved
to nominate five more British Cabinet Ministers
for the vacant seats. The meeting also appointed a
deputation of three to proceed to Geelong in support
of this platform, and these gentlemen addressed a
crowded meeting in the local Theatre Koyal. Their
sentiments and advice, however, were not palatable to
the majority of those present, and the meeting
dispersed in riot and confusion. Next day the
nomination took place. The Duke of Wellington, Lord

120 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION^.

Palmerston, Lord Brougham, Lord John Russell, and
Sir Robert Peel were duly proposed and seconded by
the advanced party, whilst the advocates of hona-jide
election nominated Dr. Dixon, Dr. Palmer, Mr.
Lauchlan Mackinnon, Mr. Edward Curr, and Mr.
James Williamson. Whether it was that the people
of Geelong did not believe in carrying a joke too far,
or whether they wished to show their independence
of Melbourne ideas, or whether they were conscientiously
of opinion that separation from New South Wales
would not be secured by indulging in this burlesque
business, it is certain that at the poll they rejected
the five Imperial celebrities and elected the five local
nominees by a large majority. Nevertheless, the
original election of Earl Grey achieved all that was
desired, and considerably more than was expected,
when the droll suggestion was first conceived and
acted upon. Fervid speeches delivered at one end of
the world might be unheard at the other, and
indignant correspondence might accumulate unread
in the Colonial Office in London ; but there was no
ignoring such an irreverent and gratuitous use of the
name of a noble Lord by a forward little community
of discontented colonists. When the queer news of
the Melbourne election reached England, it naturally
provoked a great deal of merriment in official and
Parliamentary circles, and Earl Grey had to submit
to so much good-humoured banter on the subject,
that he was forced to give the antipodean situation
more serious attention than he had previously deigned
to bestow upon it. The result was the speedy triumph

MELBOURNE'S EARLY RIVAL. 121

of the ingenious practical jokers, and the elevation of
the Port Phillip dependency of New South Wales into
the independent colony of Victoria.

The Geelong of to-day is a quiet town of 20,000
inhabitants, who for the most part take life leisurely
and fulfil their worldly vocations with a sort of
mechanical regularity. They have settled down to a
secondary position, but still cling tenaciously to the
surviving honour of being the only corporate town in
the colony outside the city of Melbourne. Melbourne
and Geelong were both incorporated under an Act of
William IV. passed by the Sydney Legislature before
Victoria became an independent colony, and whilst
Ballarat and Sandhurst were yet unborn. This
historical recognition gives Geelong a right of
precedence over all other Victorian towns, to which
it would not be entitled on grounds of population or
revenue. And with respect to revenue, Geelong has
been a severe sufferer from the visitation of the
^phylloxera, which necessitated the destruction of the
numerous vineyards with which the surrounding
district was once picturesquely dotted, but which
are no longer sources of pleasure, or of profit either,
to the individual or the community. Her manu-
facturing industries, too, are not so prosperous as they
were. The river Barwon, a fine stream forming the
southern boundary of the town, is fringed with woollen
mills, tanneries, fellmongeries, &c., which until recently
gave constant employment to hundreds of hands.
Now, however, they are comparatively idle, but it is
hoped that the wave of depression will be of but

122 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

brief duration. Overlooking the river are several
prett}^ villas and mansions, whose well-kept gardens
run down almost to the water's edge. One of them is
noteworthy as having been for many years the
residence of Geelong's chief worthy and Victoria's
honest and high-minded statesman, Sir Charles
Sladen. Of the value and importance of his
public services it is needless to speak. They are
admitted and eulogised by men of all parties and
political professions. At those critical periods of our
history as a colony, when the majority of men seemed
to have lost their heads in the political madness of the
hour and were ready to embrace any scheme, however
wild, propounded ~by the reigning demagogue, Sir
Charles Sladen was the still strong man for whom the
emergency called ; his was the cool and clear-thinking
brain ; he was the Conservative force that acted as a
bulwark against the raging passions of the moment,
and preserved the constitution from violation. His
portrait is in the Victorian National Gallery and the
Geelong Town Hall, and in both places it should
perpetuate his memory for many a j^ear. One of the
last of his local services was the establishment, in con-
junction with Mrs. Austin, a philanthropic lady who
was identified with the early history of Geelong, of a
free library and reading-room for the benefit of the
youths of the district in which he lived, and in whose
welfare he always manifested the deepest interest. A
mansion on the southern side of the river, fronting the
late residence of Sir Charles Sladen, is a prominent
feature of the landscape. Its name is Kardinia, and

MELBOURNE S EABLY RIVAL. 123

that name was bestowed upon it by its builder, Dr.
Alexander Thomson, who may be justly styled thefather
of Geelong. A friend and confidant of John Batman,
he followed the pioneer across the straits and aided
him in the foundation of a new settlement around
Port Phillip. Unlike Batman, however, he did not
settle down near the Yarra, but determined to go
further afield. Attracted by the natural beauties of
the country around Geelong, he purchased largely at
the first land sales, and established his permanent home
on the banks of the Barwon. He was the first Mayor
of Geelong, one of its first Parliamentary represen-
tatives, and, what he was much more proud of, was the
first man to drive a bullock-dray from Melbourne to
Geelong. His own driver became scared at the stories
of the fierceness of the blacks at the Werribee, and
suddenly deserted him when they were a few miles
out of town. Instead of returning to Melbourne for
assistance, the plucky doctor took the bullocks in hand
himself and succeeded in piloting them safely to
Geelong. About a mile further up the river is the
residence of another departed celebrity. Captain Foster
Fyans, the first police magistrate of the Western
District, a title that meant during his time the
supervision of the whole of the country stretching from
Geelong to the South Australian border. A man of
military determination of character, he took a much
wider view of the responsibilities and the functions
of his oflice than would be recognised or accepted
now-a-days, and many stories of the uncompromising
vigour with which he was accustomed to personally

12 i CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

suppress lawlessness of every description, are related.
After him has been named the village of Fyansford,
three miles from Geelong, near the meeting-place
of the Moorabool and the Bar won. Not far from
this prettily-situated little hamlet are Buckley's
Falls, once the favourite show spot to visitors, but
which has been in a great measure robbed of its
picturesqueness since the erection of a huge obtrusive
paper-mill — another instance of commercial considera-
tions elbowing the beautiful aside. For the purposes
of this paper mill, the river has been diverted into a race
some distance above the falls, and the result is that for
the greater part of the year there are now no falls at
all. The tiers of rugged rocks over which nature
intended the water to tumble are there, and so is the
wide basin that has been hollowed out of the
contiguous hills by the rushing torrents of successive
ages— but the rocks are disagreeably naked, and the
basin is a monotonous pool. Once the roaring of these
falls could be heard a considerable distance away, but
it is only during flood-time that they now become
audible. The high hills that look down upon them
from the east and the west were frequently trodden by
the feet of Buckley, the " Wild White Man," during
his 32 years' association with the aborigines, and
tradition still points to a cave in one of the hill sides
as having been a favourite retreat of the runaway
convict.

At the northern end of Geelong, abutting on Corio
Bay, the commercial interests of the town are chiefly
concentrated. Several massive wool and grain stores in

MELBOURNE'S EARLY RIVAL. 125

the vicinity of the wharves assure the spectator that
there is still a certain amount of solid prosperity at the
Pivot. It is, indeed, during the wool season that
Geelong is seen at its best. From October to February
its wharves are lined with ships destined for the
London market, and the work of compressing the huge
bales of wool into the smallest possible space is carried
on at high-pressure speed. Prior to the construction of
the Colac and Camperdown railway, the wool from the
stations in the Western District was brought by road
to Geelong on immense drays drawn by dozens of
bullocks, and the arrival of these formidable teams
made the town very lively for the nonce. But now
the wool is decorously carried in swift-travelling
goods-trains, and a considerable proportion of it is
taken on to Melbourne for shipment — a practice which
is naturally strongly deprecated by the Geelongese,
and regarded as a substantial grievance from their
standpoint, which is that Geelong is the geographical
port of the Western District, and squatters have no
right to fly in the face of Providence. Still, old
associations are not easily shaken off, and a good per-
centage of the Western squatters continue to make the
Pivot their port of shipment. Not only that, but not a
few of them have taken up their residence there,
preferring its peaceful seclusion and its salubrious air
to the perennial bustle and smoke-infected atmosphere
of the metropolis. The heights of the suburb of
Newtown are crowned with their mansions, and the
terraces over-looking the bay are favoured spots of
theirs.

AhIiIiv, Ml' Ocolong Wtsst, {\\v iiiiiiir \\y wliicli il. is
ollicially known, ])l'(^4(Mlts mnii! Hl.iikiii^- fviilciiccs of a
vaiiiMlicd <_';i)l(l('M past tliaii any oUk^t pail, nl" (lie town
'I'lif iiiiiiilii'i- of lnr;.'(' lioii^M'M »»r arcoiiiiiKxI.i.l loll now
aluilitloMctl iuiil ralliii;^^ iiili> tItMtay, iuul of placivs of
hiiHilU'NH IVoiii wliicli, in I )iMin,ilian pliiasc, IniMinrHH
lia.s \u\\\f Hincc ifliic(|, (ill (Jicir .silcnl. I.al(»
of a lilLlr (lay ol" Mplciiiloiir Miiccccdfd liy a lon;^
ni"lil. of ''loom. A (lilapidalrd imlilic Iioiimc, wdioMc
Jict^ncc lias lirtin allowed to lapse, is |)oinl.e(l out
in this locality, lor wliicli no less a, snin than
.Cl'O.OOO was oMcicd and iclii.ied in the f^^ood oM
times. Its ownei^ lived (,o lament his lolly in not
closin;^' with that oiler, whilst the would 1m^ piirc.lia,ser
had afterwards every reason to rejoice a,t tlii^ I'efiisal
he liiid reei'ived. It was from this siiImhIi ofAshliy
that the main road to IwiJIarat lirancheil oil' towards
llellpost Hill, and thus Aslihy hectajiu! a sort of^(tneral
head (|iia,rters or common mee(,ini^f;^f round for r(^turninji^
HUCCOHsliil <liL;|;'ers and depa.rliii"; hopeful ones. The
army of carriers who had Ween cnlle(| into (ixiHtoncu
hy the circumstances of tlu! time, who kept up r'c^'ular
commuiii(tation Ix^Avcitn Hallarat and tlu; seahoard, and
wdio pidxided the di;^;.^erM with all necessary suppli(^s,
nlsu found that Aslihy was their most convenient
rcnde/A'oiiM. With such a miscellaii(M)us ;^atlieriiii^' of
humanity ievellin«^ in the possession of rapidly ac(piired
wealth, it is noiMlless to sa,y that money was nuule to
lly in (JVery direcl,ion, and, if the meniorieM of tli(*
sui'vivin^ old idt!ntiti(is are to he tiiist(Ml, this now
hilont Huhuib of a |ilHcid town was then tlio Hceno

MELliOUHNEH EARLY RIVAL. 127

of countless extravagances, and as near an approach
to an earthly pandemonium as can well be conceived.
One of these old identities has recently and
<leservedly been brouj^ht into prominence in the
columns of the Artjus. Th(jnias Russell is his name,
and he is the solitary survivor of the little baud
of pioneers who, half-a-century ago, witnessed the
bai)tisni of Melbourne at the hands of Sir Richard
Rourke. In its later history, Ashby, or Geelong West,
has been chiefly cons])icuous for its unswerving
adherence to the [x^litieal fortunes of tlie present
Agent-General, Sir (jSrahaui Jiorry, during his long
career as a })arliaaientary re|)resentativo of Geelong.
Whilst all the other electoral divisions of the town
were wont to leave the Radical leader in a minority,
the Geelong West return invariably reversed the
verdict and secured him his seat. One reason, and
the princi[)al one, perhaps, for this continuous
popularity was the hard and successful battle which he
iought for the separation of the district from the
town proper, and its erection into an independent
munici[)ality.

While the close proximity of Geelong to Melbourne
<jperates to its disadvantage, inasmuch as a great many
of its young men are drawn away by the larger
opportunities and the superior attractions that the
metropolis presents, there is no reason why the oldest
of Victorian towns should not progress steadily in the
future. Its capacious harbour has never yet been
|)roperly utilised, and when the new cliannel through
the bar is completed, it should open u^) Corio Bay to

128 CHBISTMAS COLLECTION.

the shipping community and make that western arm
of Port Phillip a serviceable auxiliary to the occasionally
overcrowded harbour of Melbourne. The replanting of
the Geelong vineyards will doubtless be permitted
before long, and thereby will the restrictions be removed
from a long-closed avenue of prosperity. With improved
appliances and careful management the local woollen
manufacturers should be able to surmount their little
difficulties of the present, and successfully compete in
a fair field against the world. Thus, even if the
ambitious dream of Sir Henry Parkes, with respect to
the future destiny of Geelong, is not realised in full,
a later generation may see it verified in part.

CONTEMPORARY IRELAND.

The Parnell Movement, with a Sketch of Irish Parties
FROM 184:3, BY T. P. O'Connor, M.P. 1 Paternoster Square,
London : Kegan Paul, Trench and Co. 18S6.

The gifted member for the Scotland division of
Liverpool has rendered a very important service to
our literature, as well as to political science, by-
writing his brilliant historical review of the remarkable
contemporary movement headed by Cliarles Stewart
Parnell, and in which he himself has been honoured
with a high command. For, apart from its purely
political aspect, this well-timed volume is rich in
passages of bright and picturesque description that
recall the best parts of Mr. O'Connor's previous
success, " The Life of Lord Beaconsfield." At the
outset he declares with perfect truth that the Irish
movement of our day cannot be fully comprehended
without some acquaintance with previous movements
" of which it is the child and the successor," and he
therefore takes up the thread of Irish history at the
epoch of the abortive agitation for the repeal of the
Union, when the star of the once-powerful Tribune,
Daniel O'Counell, was slowly and sadly sinking
beneath the horizon.

It is now very generally known, and even candidly
confessed, that the so-called legislative union between
Great Britain and Ireland is one of the most

K

130 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

abominable transactions that darken the pages of
modern history. No honest man, acquainted with
the historical facts of the era, would attempt to stand
up in the face of day and defend the foul, iniquitous
means by which the Parliament of Ireland was
blotted out of existence at the beginning of this
century. Sir Jonah Barrington, who was a sorrowful
eye-witness of the whole deplorable drama, has
pilloried the chief conspirators for all time in that
enthralling work of his on " The Rise and Fall of the
Irish Nation." He there submits to a merciless ■
exposure the wholesale bribery, the diabolical intrigue,
the revoltiug treachery, and the unscrupulous fraud,
which were the principal agencies utilised for the
commission of this great national crime. A "union"
formed after a fashion so unnatural, so incongruous, and
so disgraceful, could not but develop into what Mr. T.
P. O'Connor correctly characterises as a " fatal heritage
alike to the peoples of England and Ireland." In point
of fact, the history of Ireland has ever since been one
long, perpetual protest against that vile and but too
successful conspiracy against her legislative indepen-
dence. Whether taking the form of an armed
uprising, or a peaceful constitutional agitation ;
whether bursting forth with volcanic energy, or
smouldering unseen beneath the surface of events;
this protest against a monstrous injustice has been
ever present for 86 years — an unerring barometer of
national discontent, and a standing reminder that a
country, any more than a citizen, cannot do a flagrant
wrong to a weaker neighbour without incurrine: a

COXTEMPORARY IRELAND. Ibl

troublesome penalt3^ To us in Australia, who rejoice
in the practically limitless freedom extended to British
colonies, upon whom local self-government has been
lavished to the extent of half-a-dozen separate
independent legislatures for the making of law^s for
three millions of people, and who are so accustomed
to see the errors of departed statesmen unceremoniously
swept away, the wonder is that England should have
so long perpetuated her make-believe union with
Ireland, that she has not ere this honestly acknow-
ledged that Ireland was most unrighteously robbed of
a local legislature, and that restitution of an unques-
tionable national right should have been delayed for
so many exasperating years. To England the Act of
Union has been the source of perpetual worry and of
national degradation ; whilst to unfortunate Ireland
it has been the remorseless engine of death and
destruction. Our author summarises its dreadful
consequences in these accusing words : — " To the Act
of Union must be attributed the three famines since
1800, with their million and a-half of deaths, the
exile of nearly three millions of Irishmen ; and that
Act in eighty-iive years has produced from the Irish
three rebellions and from the British Parliament
eighty-four Coercion Bills. To any Englishman,
whatever his party, such a record against any system
of government by any other people but his own, and
in any other country but in Ireland, would bring
prompt condemnation and swift resolve." Mr. O'Connor
devotes his early chapters to a detailed account of the
unparalleled horrors of the great famine of 1846-47

132 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

and though the ghastly pai'ticulars he has collated
from a vaiiety of authoritative sources are somewhat
repulsive reading, it is well that they should be so set
down, for they constitute the most condemnatory
indictment against the Act of Union and the inhuman
land system which that Act was the means of
engendering. It makes the blood boil in one's veins
to read of the blundering incompetency of the British
Government at this grave national crisis, and to think
how hundreds of thousands of the brave Irish people
would have been saved from frightful death by
starvation had there been a domestic legislature in
Dublin to take immediate and sympathetic action.

When the decimated and sorely-aflflicted people of
Ireland rose to their feet after the terrible prostration
of the famine era, they found themselves face to face
with another appalling scourge. Heartless landlords,
actuated by a pitiless refinement of cruelty, took
advantage of the weakness and the helplessness of the
unfortunate peasantry, and organised a system of
wholesale evictions, which Earl Grey indignantly
characterised as " a disgrace to a civilised country,"
and which, Mr. O'Connor truly remarks, " in the
opinion of most men, remain as one of the blackest
records in all history of man's inhumanity to man."
No less than half-a-million of hapless human beings
were thus driven to death or into exile from their
humble family homes under circumstances of the most
barbarous cruelty, and it was in the hope of stopping
this devilish work, and of throwing some shield of
protection over the remaining tenants of Ireland,

CONTEMPORA R Y IRELAND. 1 33

that the " league of North and South," whose history-
has recently been written by the graphic pen of Sir
Charles Gavan Duffy, was launched under the happiest
omens of success. For Presbyterian Ulster and
Catholic Ireland made common cause for the first
time, and leading representatives of both denomi-
national divisions of the country stood together side
by side on the same platform, unitedly demanding
fixity of tenure and fair rents for the Irish peasantry.
But, as ill-luck would have it, a disturbing element
unexpectedly appeared in the shape of a " Papal
aggression" scare in Great Britain, and it is matter of
notoriety how this promising national movement was
disgracefully wrecked by the treachery of Sadleir
and Keogh, " two of the most sinister figures in Irish
history." This pair of accomplished adventurers
posed for a season as belligerent Catholic champions,
then sold themselves and their country with a cynical
contempt for their voluntary oath-bound obligations,
and finally effected the destruction of that unique
organisation which, in the words of our author,
" might have succeeded in all its purposes ; might
have won fixity of tenure and free sale and fair rent ;
and might have saved Ireland a quarter of a century
of the darkest and most bitter events in her history."
The collapse of the Tenant League was followed by
another flood of evictions, the conscienceless landlords
revenging themselves in this characteristic fashion on
their persecuted tenants for having organised in a
perfectly legitimate manner to obtain their just rights.
The next organisation that arose on Irish soil was not

134 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

legitimate in the technical sense of the term, for it
was a secret conspiracy to overthrow British rule in
Ireland by force of arms. It had its starting-point in
the ranks of the thousands of evicted Irish, who, while
establishing new homes for themselves and their
families in hospitable America, treasured up the
memory of the bitter wrongs they were forced to
suffer in the land of their birth. Its name was
Fenianism ; it was speedily transplanted to Ireland ;
it spread into England itself; and for several years
its violent manifestations kept the three kingdoms in
a state of nervous excitement and alarm. When
Fenianism fell, as England's foremost statesman, Mr.
Gladstone, has not hesitated to publicly testify, it
brought along with it to the ground that State-
supported alien Irish Church, which the great majority
of the Irish people had previously been compelled by
law and against their consciences to support. The
disestablishment of the Irish Protestant Church was
speedily followed by the inauguration of a movement
that was destined to play a very important part in
succeeding years, and on which the curtain has not
yet been rung down. Its organiser was Isaac Butt,
who in his younger days had been the rising hope of
the little circle of Irish Tories, but who in his later
years saw good reason for espousing the national cause
with all the ardour and ability of which he was
capable at that advanced period of his life. He was,
in a word, the father of Home Rule, and it was not
long before he became the leader of a party of sixty
Irish representatives in the House of Commons pledged

CONTEMPORARY IRELAND. 135

to the principle " that the true remedy for the evils of
Ireland is the establishment of an Irish Parliament
with full control over domestic affairs." Butt, how-
ever, kept rigorously to the time-honoured orthodox
methods of genteel parliamentary warfare, with the
result that all his efforts at legislating for the
correction of Irish grievances proved of no avail. A
young member of his party, " eager for practical
results," could not brook this exasperating state of
things, and Charles Stewart Parnell — for that was
his name — brought into play that active policy of
systematic obstruction to Government business which
compelled the attention of the House of Commons to
the legislative requirements of Ireland. How that
daring policy was conceived and developed ; how the
cool, determined fearlessness of Parnell in throwing
down the gage of defiance on the floor of the House of
Commons re-acted on and re-animated the Irish at
home and abroad ; how, when in 1879 the grim
spectre of famine once again hovered over the nation,
the menaced people hung on the words of their leader,
and put into practice the advice he gave them to
" hold a film grip of their homesteads and their
lands ;" and how the Land League, founded by Michael
Davitt, to uphold the doctrine of " the land for the
people," sprang into an organisation of mighty strength
and widespread influence when Mr. Parnell became
its president — is all told by Mr. O'Connor with
dramatic power and thorough comprehensiveness. The
old weapon of coercion was employed with more
brutality than ever in the attempt to suppress the

136 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

Land League agitation. Mr. Forster, the Chief
Secretary for Ireland, crammed the gaols with suspects,
and even went the length of arresting and imprisoning
Mr. Parnell himself. But the nation was unanimous
in endorsing the principles of the Land League, and
this bloodthirsty member of the Society of Friends
was forced by the pressure of public opinion in
England to abandon the military despotism he had
most unwarrantably erected in Ireland, to sever
his connection with the Cabinet, to liberate the
suspects whom he had incarcerated after the fashion
of a French dictator, and to publicly confess himself
beaten. " If all England cannot govern the hon.
member for Cork (Mr. Parnell), then let us
acknowledge that he is the greatest power in
Ireland to-day," was Mr. Forster's candid confession
in the House of Commons at the close of the contest.
Summarising the history of the Land League in a
sentence, it achieved two momentous results — it
organised and consolidated the country in a manner
that had never before been approached, and it secured
the passing of the Land Act of 1881, a measure which,
though not satisfying the national aspirations in full,
was an immense stride towards the goal which the
Irish people had always kept steadily in view.

And this consolidation of the national strength
through the instrumentality of the Land League,
followed, as it speedily was, by a large extension of
the franchise, soon placed Mr. Parnell at the head of
nine-tenths of the representatives of Irish consti-
tuencies. Not only was he the chosen chief of the

CONTBMPO RARY IRELAND. 1 37

East, the West, and the South, but the " Black North"
itself voluntarily enlisted under his banner. Pro-
testant Ulster rejoiced in the novel sensation of
returning a majority of Nationalists to the House of
Commons. It was now no longer possible to mis-
understand or to misinterpret what the nation desired.
The demand for a domestic Parliament was made with
a unanimity and a potency that brooked no contra-
diction. Mr. Gladstone, who years before in one of
his Lancashire speeches expressed his conviction that
Ireland should be governed in accordance with Irish
ideas, now felt that the hour had come to translate
this statesmanlike sentiment into action. With that
intent, he drafted his Government of Ireland Bill, and
the eyes of the world were upon the veteran Liberal
leader as he lately rose in the House of Commons to
make a gallant effort to repair the injustice of the
past, to give an affirmative answer to a nation's
request for self-government, and to re-establish a
native Parliament in Dublin. He has most unfor-
tunately been checked in the realisation of this
generous desire, but it is only a momentary check ;
and, aged though he be, it is well within the bounds
of probability that he will live to see the ripening of
the harvest from the good seed he has sown. But,
under any circumstances, the battle is practically won.
Home Rule is a logical necessity of the near future.
It would be just as reasonable to attempt to postpone
the rising of to-morrow's sun as to try to put back
the Irish question to the position it occupied before
Mr. Gladstone took it up and placed it in the foreground

138 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

of practical politics. There can be no retreating in
such a case. " Advance" must be the word of
command. And in no part of the world will the
attainment of Ireland's legislative independence be
welcomed with greater cordiality and fraternal sym-
pathy than in these free Australian colonies, that
have prospered so remarkably under local self-
government, and are sincerely desirous to see every
section of the Empire in possession of the privileges
that they enjoy.

To the general reader, perhaps the most interesting
portion of Mr. O'Connor's book will be his realistic
pen-portraits of the more prominent members of the
Parnellite party in the House of Commons. They
are the work of a literary artist who is thoroughly
acquainted and familiarised with his subjects, and who
never exceeds the limits of good taste in his
portraiture. Of Mr. Parnell himself an admirable
sketch is given, nor does our author forget to make
mention of those inspiring famil}'' traditions which
the leader of the Irish people has so worthily upheld,
and which must have been potent influences in the
moulding of his public life. For instance, his
ancestor. Sir John Parnell, who was Chancellor of the
Exchequer in the last Irish Parliament, did not
hesitate to sacrifice the office on the altar of his
patriotism, and to oppose the Union from first to last.
" Incorruptible" — most honourable of adjectives — is
the term employed by the author of " The Rise and
Fall of the Irish Nation" to embody and to delineate
his character. Mr. Justin M'Carthy, who is next in

CONTEMPORARY IRELAND. 139

authority to Mr. Parnell, is widely known as the
popular novelist and the painstaking compiler of
" The History of Our Own Times," but it will be a
surprise to many to learn that he has a political
record as well, dating back to the stormy days of '48
Thomas Sexton, the orator jpar excellence of the Irish
party, and, next to Mr, Gladstone, admittedly the
ablest speaker in the House of Commons ; T. D.
Sullivan, the poet and Nestor of the Parnellites ; J
G. Biggar, the rough diamond and general favourite ;
James O'Kelly, the dashing soldier and adventurous
war correspondent in many lands ; Arthur O'Connor,
keen and controversial critic ; John Dillon, trenchant
speaker, and inheritor of an honoured name ; E.
Dwyer Gray, clear-thinking and practical counsellor ;
William O'Brien, most fearless and determined of
National journalists; and last, but far from least, T.
M. Healy, the indefatigable worker and walking
encyclopaedia of parliamentary information — are each
the subjects of biographical paragraphs written in Mr.
O'Connor's happiest vein. " What," asks the Academy,
" does this able book teach us ? One point must
strike the most superficial reader — the immense
superiority, in material as well as in organisation, of
the Parnellite party over all its predecessors. Man
for man, its members may not have the talents of
the Young Irelanders, but they are disciplined under
a careful leader. Above all, the nation has been
educated up to something like real union and united
action." These concise words express the conclusions
that every unprejudiced reader will arrive at, and it

140 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

may be hoped that Mr. T. P. O'Connor's lucid narrative
will find many unprejudiced readers in the Australian
colonies, and will be the means of dissipating some, at
least, of the misunderstandings and misapprehensions
that evidently exist around us with respect to the
Parnell movement.

DOWN IN A GOLD MINE.

Although Melbourne is the capital of Victoria, it is
by no means the most historically interesting city of
the colony. As a rule, the most interesting historical
associations cluster around the capital city of every
country in Europe, but such is not the case at the
antipodes. We identify London with the history of
England, and Paris with the progress of France, but
we do not identify Melbourne with the progress of
Victoria. On the contrarj^, our metropolis has had
comparatively little influence in making Victoria what
it i.s — the premier colony of the South. That honour
may fairly be claimed bj' our mining centres in
general, and Ballarat in particular. Thirty-five
years ago, the magic word " Ballarat" acted as a
magnet to draw population in thousands from Europe
and America, and to start this colony on its career of
prosperity. Melbourne, that before the gold discoveries
was a mere village, was almost instantaneously
transformed into a city populous with arriving and
departing diggers. Eye-witnesses tell us that hundreds
of ships were lying in Hobson's Bay without a sailor
to man them, all having been seized with the gold
fever and absconded to the diggings. Many of the
men who worked in the mines of Ballarat in the early
days have since attained to some of the highest
positions in the colony, and it would be difiicult to
recognise in the Cabinet Ministers, the members of

142 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

Parliament, the County Court judges, the police
magistrates, the eminent barristers, the newspaper
editors, and the successful merchants of to-day, the
rough, uncouth, red-shirted miners of '52, '53, and '54.
Thus Ballarat, to the majority of the Victorian people,
is, perhaps, the most interesting place in the colony ;
and, though the abounding life and bustle of former
da3^s are no longer visible, still the city contains many
objects of interest and is well worthy of a visit.

Ballarat East was the battle-ground of Victorian
liberty. There the site of the Eureka Stockade is
still to be seen, where, 32 years ago, a brief
engagement was fought that ended the reign of
despotic authority in this colony. It is true that the
brave-hearted diggers, righteously resisting an unjust
and oppressive tax and the tyranny of unscrupulous
officials, were defeated by the combined forces of the
military and the police ; but the defeat was in reality
a victory, for the detestable system against which
they took up arms was doomed to destruction by the
courageous stand they had made. It could not
survive so emphatic a protest, and it fell, never to be
revived. Free institutions arose on its ruins, and,
whilst the people of Victoria are enjoying these
privileges to-day, they should not forget the men who
fought and bled for freedom in '54. The Hon. Peter
Lalor, who led the diggers on that memorable occasion,
and lost an arm in the struggle, has lived to become
the first commoner of the land.

Ballarat has a decidedly prepossessing appearance.
It is approached in a delightful manner. A

DOWJV IN A GOLD JIIHU. U3

gradual ascent through lovely, well-wooded and
picturesque country, until the heights of Warrenheip
are reached, when on looking through the carriage
windows you see the golden city nestling in the valley
below, and then the train glides down the declivity,
and you are landed at an exceptionally superior
railway station, massive, roomy, and well-lighted.
Then you are escorted up Lydiard-street and through
Sturt-street to that celebrated sheet of water —
Wendouree — the possession of which is the pride and
the boast of Ballarat. Originally a shallow, unpromising
swamp, by the expenditure of a large amount of
local capital and energy it has been transformed into a
delightful little lake about three miles in circum-
ference, on which yachts and pleasure-boats are to be
seen disporting themselves on summer days. Sur-
rounding the lake are many pretty mansions and
villas, and on its western shore are the carefully-kept
and perennially-attractive Botanical Gardens, which
are famed throughout the colony.

But the great attraction of Ballarat is not to be
found on the surface. To see the source of the
wondrous prosperity reigning all around, and diffusing
wealth in every direction, one must go down into the
bowels of the earth, and contemplate the miners at
work. Tbe first mine with which I had any actual
acquaintance was that of the Victoria T'nited Company
in Ballarat East. With two friends, I accepted the
invitation of its courteous manager to view the
underground works. We were first told that we
must divest ourselves of our clothes to prevent their

144 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

being irretrievably spoiled, and encase ourselves in
spare suits of miners' clothes. Arrayed in this novel
garb, we presented a very singular appearance in each
other's eyes. Thus equipped we made our way to the
mouth of the shaft, and, having lit our candles, we took
our places on the " cage." The cage is the vehicle
of communication with the mine below ; it resembles
the upper portion of a wool-press not in motion, but,
unlike a wool-press, it is made of solid iron. It is
about seven feet in height from top to bottom, and an
iron bar runs from side to side about one foot from
the top. We receive instructions to hold on to this
bar with one hand,-and keep our candles alight in the
other. The cage is suspended from a very thick,
intertwisted, flat rope, which is connected with the
engine-house at a little distance to the right. In
this manner it hangs over the mouth of the shaft.
It may be well to explain that the shaft is divided
by a boarded partition into two equal portions, so
that when one cage is descending, another is ascending,
and vice versa.

We take our places on the cage, there being just
sufficient standing room for the party of three, the
foreman of the works having climbed to the top, and
perched himself on the roof He is a rather corpulent
gentleman, a burly outside passenger, and we inwardly
express a hope that the rope will be equal to the
heavy demands made upon it.

The brief interval between taking a position on the
cage and the giving of the order to " lower," is a period
of suspense in a double sense, and seems longer than

BOWF IN A GOLD MINE. 145

it really is. You shiver and feel a peculiar inward
sensation when the thought flashes through your
mind that below you is a clear unbroken fall of five
hundred feet, and that should anything go wrong with
the cage or the rope you will be cast down that tremen-
dous distance, and instantaneously sent into eternity.
But this period of suspense is soon over, you hear
the foreman cry out "lower," and immediately you
feel yourself gently gliding down the shaft. The
motion of the cage is so well regulated that, when
you are a short distance down, it becomes almost
imperceptible ; and, were you to close your eyes
you would imagine yourself standing still. By
the light of our candles we are enabled to discern the
openings into old and worked-cut " drives" (branches
from the main shaft), that have been abandoned for
deeper workings. As we descend, we can estimate
the enormous amount of capital that must be expended
before gold-mining can be profitably carried on. The
four sides of the shaft are timbered almost as closely
as the walls of a weatherboard house, so that the
item of timber alone must be a very heavy annual
outlay.

Down, down we go, until we imagine ourselves
following in the wake of Jules Verne in his " Journey
to the Centre of the Earth." Suddenly we emerge
from almost total darkness into comparative light, the
cage stops, and we find ourselves in a room about 12
feet square, hollowed out of the earth. This
subterranean apartment is lighted by a lamp of
gasoline, suspended from a pole in the centre. Gasoline

146 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION

we were told, is used in preference to kerosene,
as being less dangerous and less liable to explosion.
From this chamber various drives run in different
directions, and along each of them a little railway has
been constructed, similar to those laid down in large
warehouses. The rails are about two feet apart, and
curious little trucks full of quartz are pushed along
them with the greatest facility. We are not very
long below before we see the wisdom of divestinof
ourselves of our excursion clothes, for the water
percolates through the interstices of the boards above
our heads and makes a continual dripping sound.
Now and then a drop would fall right into the flame
of our candles with a spluttering noise.

Having surveyed this subterranean centre of
operations, we are handed over to the care of the
worthy overseer, a very affable and entertaining
gentleman, who initiates us into all the mysteries of
the mine. He leads the way into the drive where the
men are working. It is very narrow and very low ;
we have to walk in single file and to stoop lest we
strike our heads against the roof We find it very
toilsome and disagreeable to be plodding along in this
Esquimaux fashion, and are,therefore,glad when we hear
the sound of the miners' picks and shovels. The drive
is about two hundred yards in length, and is boarded
overhead for about two-thirds of its lenofth, the
remaining distance being without such protection. Of
course this is dangerous, the earth being liable to cave
in at any moment, but miners cannot be continually
boarding, and, even when every possible precaution is

DOWN IN A GOLD MINE. 147

taken, gold-seeking will ever be a risky under-
taking.

At length we arrived at the end of the drive, where
the men were working at the reef and procuring the
golden stone. There they were, filling the trucks
with the auriferous quartz, which would be hoisted
to the surface, crushed, and the precious metal
extracted. The earth all around us was glittering
with a shining yellowish substance, and wdien I
innocently inquired, " Is that gold ?" one of the miners,
winking at another, answered, " Oh, yes ! new chum
gold !" He afterwards explained that nearly all
strangers naturally imagine that this shining substance
is the precious metal, and, therefore, the miners had
christened it " new chum" gold, but it was in reality
a mineral called " mundic," which, though not auriferous
itself, was always one of the indications of gold.
Another sure sign of the proximity of gold was a
substance called by the miners " black-jack." This,
of course, is a colloquial and not a scientific term.
As its name denotes, it is of a blackish colour,
and is found attached to the quartz ; its abundance,
we were told, is always regarded as a sure
indication of the existence of rich gold in the
neighbourhood. The miners were meeting with
large quantities of it at the time of our visit,
and were expecting every moment to strike a richer
reef than any they had yet worked. A few weeks
afterwards, we were pleased to learn that their
expectations had been realised, and that they had
come upon splendid ground. The reef on which they

148 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

were working at the time of our visit, though
comparatively rich, was narrow. The miners collected
some pieces of quartz that contained specks of gold
and presented them to us as mementoes of our visit to
Ballarat.

A pipe running down the whole length of the shaft
and along the drive conveys pure air from above to
the miners at work below. Still, we found the
atmosphere very oppressive, and experienced some
difficulty at first in breathing freely. On remarking
this to the overseer, he informed us that such was
always the case with visitors who came below for the
first time, but that the miners did not experience the
least discomfort.

Having acquainted ourselves with the whole process
of gold-getting, we retraced our steps along the drive,
and arrived safely in the little apartment at the foot
of the shaft. There the ascending cage was awaiting
us, and, having taken our places on it, the overseer
signalled the engine-house to " pull up," and imme-
diately we commenced our upward journey. Before
starting, we looked up the shaft to see whether we
could discern the daylight at a distance of five
hundred feet above. In the pitchy darkness we could
just see a single gleam or ray of light that indicated
the position of the mouth of the shaft. From our
station below it presented the same appearance as a
solitary star shining at midnight, when all the heavens
around were overspread with dark and gloomy clouds.
In the upward journey the movement of the cage was
as gentle and imperceptible as in our descent, and

DOWN IN A GOLD MINE. 149

we were ushered into daylight with remarkable
abruptness. Having divested ourselves of our under-
ground apparel, we resumed our proper clothes, and
conveyed our acknowledgments to the manager and
overseer for their courtesy.

Despite many doleful predictions to the contrary^
Ballarat continues to be a large producer of mineral
wealth, and recent discoveries point to the probability
of the existence of many yet untouched golden areas
awaiting the miner's penetrating pick. That this
pleasing anticipation will be fully realised will be the
earnest hope of thousands who have sojourned for a
season in the hospitable city of Ballarat.

A VICTORIAN AIR TOWN.
An air town, it need hardly be said, is a phrase of
American coinage. It implies a town that has sprung
up under the influence of some temporary excitement,
a place that has a brief and brilliant existence, and then
vanishes like the " castles in the air" of childhood's days.
For a time the scene of life and activity ; afterwards a
lonely and abandoned waste ; now glittering in the
ornaments of suddenly-acquired wealth ; anon un-
peopled and left to desolation and decay. In the
Western States of America many ot such " air towns"
have lived their little day and then retired into
oblivion. A rich find of gold in a particular spot
attracts adventurers in thousands, and the primeval
solitudes are invaded by hosts of diggers. A little
town makes its appearance ; business is very brisk
for a time ; then the supply of the precious metal
gives out ; the miners make a rapid retreat
to some other " rush," and the little bantling of a
town is unfeelingly deserted by its unnatural parents*
Such has been a frequent experience on the other side
of the Pacific, and we have had a few isolated instances
of the kind on our own side. Matlock, a once-
flourishing Gippsland mining town, now a deserted
village, is an " air town," whose rise, progress, and
decay have been graphically described by Mr. George

A VICTORIAN AIR TOWN. 151

Sutherland in his interesting " Tales of the Goldfields."
Greytown is another place that did not long survive
its birth ; but the particular locality I propose to
describe is probably the most remarkable of the
Victorian mining towns that have almost faded out
of existence.

Some time ago there appeared in the Government
Gazette an announcement that the Governor-in-
Council had been pleased to grant the prayer of a
petition from the residents of Steiglitz, requesting
permission to amalgamate with the adjacent shire of
Meredith. Steiglitz is (was would be more correct)
situated in the centre of the county of Grant, about
twenty-six miles north-west of Geelong, and seven to
the east of Meredith. The entire district is densely
wooded and mountainous, the late borough being
itself 1400 feet above the level of the sea. A branch
of Sutherland's Creek, which is a tributary of the
Moorabool, runs through the now almost deserted
township, and on the banks of this stream were
unearthed some rich specimens that caused the first
great rush to Steiglitz in November, 1855. Rich
quartz reefs were soon discovered, and the place
rapidly became one of the busiest centres of mining
industry. Companies were formed to develop the
auriferous resources of the district, and some of these,
such as the Albion, MalakofF, Steiglitz, and Working
Miners', met with splendid returns. In the pride of
its golden treasures, Steiglitz severed itself from the
Meredith municipal district, of which it had previously
formed a part, and blossomed into a full-blown

152 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

borough, with a mayor, town clerk, and nine coun-
cillors. Building operations were vigorously carried
on, and several hotels were erected that would be no
discredit to any city or town in the colony. In fact
the residents seemed to have every confidence in the
permanence and stability of the place ; and that their
faith in the future was amply justified by appear-
ances seems evident from the following prediction
made by Mr. Brough Smyth in his " Goldfields and
Mineral Districts of Victoria" : —

" Within the small area known as the Steiglitz
goldfields," he says, " there lie reefs which would give
profitable employment to thousands of skilled miners ;
and when capitalists give their undivided attention
to mining, and themselves superintend the ventures
in which they have their money, the Steiglitz division
will rank high amongst the goldfields of Victoria."

Alas for the prophet ! Steiglitz is now almost
extinguished !

My acquaintance with the then bustling borough
commenced when it was in the full noon of its
prosperity. My first visit to the place was on a Sunday
morning, when, accompanied by some friends, I rode
into the township to church. Emerging from the
dark shadows of a bush track we entered New Chum,
a sort of suburb about a mile to the north of the
main township. A well-constructed road, winding
between high woody banks, and crossing the creek by
a lofty wooden bridge, brought us into Steiglitz
proper. The principal street we found full of life
from the number of people on their waj^ to church,

A VICTORIAN AIR TOWJ^. 153

for at that time the borough rejoiced in several
churches and resident clergymen. Evidences of
material prosperity were abundant ; everyone you
met had that look of contented self-satisfaction which
is synonymous with good times and remunerative
work. Naturally the ladies were " louder" in pro-
claiming the general prosperity than the gentlemen.
The church I attended was crowded, and the rustling
of silks and display of jewellery were such as to
astonish me, fresh as I was from town life. I attended
the same church a few weeks ago, and the contrast
was startling. The congregation was very limited,
their appearance very subdued, and the few ladies
present were very modest indeed in their attire.
After this first visit I had frequent opportunities of
seeing Steiglitz in its working-day clothes, and was
very much impressed with the activity and enex'gy of
its people. A considerable amount of capital had been
sunk in buildings, some of which were erected on a
very extensive scale, and would answer the require-
ments of a town of many thousand inhabitants. To
commemorate the visit of His Royal Highness tlie
Duke of Edinburgh, the Alfred Hall was erected, and
here the Steiglitz Amateur Choristers were wont to
delight the miners and their wives. Here, also, the
rival candidates for the representation of South Grant
expatiated on matters political, each endeavouring to
prove himself the miner's true friend. A public
library had been instituted for the benefit of the
seniors ; nor was the rising generation forgotten, for
two schools were established by the State, and were

154 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

largely attended. With its County Court, Court of
Mines and Court of Petty Sessions, a resident
Police Magistrate and Warden, a Post and Money
Order Oftice, numerous mining companies in active
operation, and a population approaching several
thousands, Steiglitz, one would suppose, had a very
good start in the race.

After several years' absence, I recently revisited
the place, and the collapse observable in every quarter
was something painful to witness. All signs of life had
disappeared ; the companies had ceased working, and
the only outward and visible evidence to remind one of
the existence of a goldfield in the locality was the
presence of two Chinamen fossicking in the bed of
the creek. The shutters on most of the shops told
their silent tale of departed business ; but two or
three public-houses still remained to furnish food and
drink to man and beast. All semblance of local
government had vanished, for it was found impossible
to constitute the borough council, a sufficient number
of qualified ratepayers not being available. On
inquiry, I ascertained that a few years ago the yield
of gold began to sensibly decline, and the returns had
since then been growing less and less, until they are
now almost nil. As a matter of necessity the miners
left the place en masse, the result being that the
population dwindled down to a couple of hundred
and these live in the main by their connection with
the surrounding farming district, so that Steiglitz as
a mining locality may now be erased from the map.
Yet, notwithstanding the gloomy aspect of affairs.

A VICTORIA]!^ AIR TOWN. 155

there are some enthusiasts who will not surrender
their hopes in the future of the Steiglitz reefs. Gold,
I was assured by several of the survivors of former
days, remained embedded in the quartz, and capital
was the only thing required for its extraction. One
gentleman, who seems to believe implicitly in Mr.
Brough Smyth's prophecy that Steiglitz would one
day rank high amongst the goldfields of Victoria
informed me confidentially that bright days would
dawn before long. The grounds on which he based
this hopeful view were not fully disclosed ; but I
gathered from his remarks that Melbourne capitalists
had had their attention drawn to the richness of the
Steiglitz reefs, which would soon be developed in a
scientific manner, and then, of course, glorious results
would be revealed. It may be so. There may yet be
a brilliant future in store for Steiglitz, notwith-
standing its present nebulous aspect. Air town as it
is, it may one day re-acquire solidity and substan-
tiality, and proudly take its old place amongst
Victorian towns that are qualified to print their
names on the map in large capitals. Such surprises
are to be expected in young countries. Air towns
may develop into cities, and cities degenerate into
air towns. A philosophical resident of the original
Melbourne, a little English village, speaking of the
new Melbourne at the antipodes to the author of
" The Australian Abroad," remarked :— " Our Mel-
bourne was in existence centuries before yours, and it
will exist long after yours has passed away. Such
mushroom cities as yours are not lasting." This plain

156 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

prophecy of the simple Derby villager should keep
our colonial pride a little in check. When we feel
inclined to boast of the grandeur and permanency of
our achievements, when we seek to impress the
stranger with the marvellous growth of this " city of
one generation," when some new triumph prompts us
to a still louder blast of the trumpet, our transports
may be moderated by the thought of a traveller from
Iceland one day taking his stand, in the midst of a
vast solitude, on a broken arch of Prince's Bridge to
sketch the ruins of our colonial St. Paul's.

AN AUSTRALASIAN FESTIVAL.
In other lands national festivals are the outcome of
the prevailing popular desire to commemorate some
great deed of the historical past, to do honour to the
memory of a departed hero, to celebrate a signal
victory in the battle for freedom, or to rejoice anew at
the overthrow of a hated despotism. But our young
continent has no such heroic memories of sufficient
magnitude to secure a spontaneous national recognition
and, therefore, a motive for an Australasian festival had
to be sought on lower ground. Strangely enough,
though quite in keeping with many other antipodean
eccentricities, the excuse for a national Australasian
festival has been found in the worship of the horse,
and the first week of each recurring November is now
tacitly consecrated to the apotheosis of that interesting
quadruped. For these seven days Melbourne is the
focus of thousands of equine worshippers from every
division of Australasia, and it does not need a very
powerful stretch of the imagination to picture
Flemington on Cup Day as a huge modern Pagan
out-door celebration in honour of the divinity of the
hour. Viewing the spectacle in that light, Australians
cannot well afford to belittle their dusky brethren,
who, in less civilised lands, select their deities from
the animal creation. However regrettable it may be
that the national holiday of Australasia should have

168 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

become associated with the Spring Meeting of the
Victoria Racing Club, it is unquestionable that the
two are now very intimately related. The time may
possibly come when the Melbourne Cup will be
superseded in popular estimation by some higher and
more befitting occasion of national festivity — by
something that will appeal to the nobler impulses of
humanity, and be more worthy in itself of collecting
together a vast assemblage of Australian citizens.
But there are no perceptible signs of any such heroic
event varying the monotony of our colonial history,
and the probability is that the natural amphitheatre
at Flemington will be Australasia's holiday-ground for
many a year to come.

What has largely contributed to making the Mel-
bourne Cup one of the institutions of the continent is
the general understanding that " everybod}^ will be
there." Man is gregarious in his instincts, and he w^ill
follow in the wake of his fellows. He feels a peculiar
satisfaction in that glow of personal magnetism which
results from contact with so many thousands of his
own species, and he smiles serenely when he reflects
that he is an essential unit of a great living mass, com-
prising all sorts and conditions of people, from the
representatives of royalty down to the pertinaceous
little sellers of the " correct card of the races." Many
confess that their sole object in going out to Fleming-
ton on Cup Day is" to see the crowd," and certainly it
is a crowd worth travelling some distance to see. A
unique crowd, in which every possible colonial element
is to be discerned — professional men and prosperous city

AN AUSTRALASIAN FESTIVAL. 159

merchants; a whole array of legal and mercantile clerks ;
mirtliful sailors enjoying themselves with characteristic
freedom ; sturdy miners, from famous goldfields ; com-
fortable-looking selectors from the Wimmera Plains
and the Gippsland Forests ; tradesmen of every branch
of industry, along with their wives and families ; a
host of eager visitors from the other colonies, and scores
of aggressive bookmakers, crying out the odds and per-
petually pocketing the money of the guileless public.
It is the presence of these latter gentry that suggests
the most painful reflections in connection with Cup
Day. They are the personification of the gambling
spirit which is so rife, and sometimes so ruinous in our
midst, and \diich has been a potent factor in elevating
the Melbourne Cup to the position of prominence it
now holds. For it cannot be concealed that the vast
majority of the 100,000 people congregated on the
course have a monetary interest in the race for the
Cup. Each has his favourite horse, and each hopes
that he will return in the evening a much richer man
than when he came out in the morning ; but ninety-
nine out of every hundred will be doomed to disap-
pointment, and, as a rule, the fortunate hundredth does
not benefit very much by his lucky wager. Yet " hope
springs eternal in the human breast," and the people
who are always expecting to get £1000 for their £20
will persist to the end of the chapter in backing their
favourite horses in spite of repeated disappointments.
The gambling spirit has taken possession of their souls
and they cannot rest until it is satisfied. It is the sam«
spirit — that perpetual prompting of the demon within

160 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

to " try again " — that supplies the Chinese lotteries
of this city with numerous regular patrons all the year
round, notwithstanding the manifold lessons of a sad
experience that the chances of winning are of the
remotest. Fortunately, everyone who likes to work is
so prosperous in this favoured land of ours that the
losses by gambling rarely crush the losers to the earth.
By increased industry and steady application to their
business pursuits, they are enabled to retrieve them-
selves by degrees, and it is only now and then that the
community is startled by a tragedy resulting from some
poor fellow in a position of trust finding himself
immersed in a shoreless sea of gambling debts.

But these are after-reflections. Neither the aristo-
cratic occupants of the grand stand and the lawn, nor
the thickly-wedged mass of middle-class citizens on the
hill, nor the democratic thousands on the flat, have
any thought of the morrow. Though social dis-
tinctions separate these three estates, they are all one
in faithfully reflecting the predominant passion of
the moment. They are all filled with an eager ex-
pectancy as four o'clock approaches. The indescribable
tumult of the afternoon is stilled as the great event is
about to be decided. The twenty-eight contesting
horses wheel into line, and are sent oft" to an excellent
start. A hundred thousand pair of eyes endeavour to
follow the varied combinations of colour which the
changing positions of the jockeys present, but it is
only when the animals enter the straight running for
home that their relative places are clearly perceived.
Then excited shouts are raised by way of encouraging

AN AUSTRALASIAN FESTIVAL. 161

the favourites, but unavailingly, for Arsenal, an animal
unknown to the great bulk of the spectators, has the
lead, and maintains it to the winning-post. His
victory is received with an impressive silence by the
people in general, and with unconcealed demonstrations
of joy by the bookmakers, into whose collective pockets
it is the means of diverting a million of money. There
is nothing more worth waiting for, and the general
exodus from the course commences. The few depart
rejoicing in their lucky anticipations of the winner,
whilst the many leave saying nothing, but thinking
a great deal of the folly of placing faith in the confi-
dent predictions of professional tipsters, of believing
dreamers who saw the colours of the winning jockey
in visions of the night, and of acting on strictly con-
fidential information from the stables. But, knowing
the weakness of human nature, they have at the same
time a sort of floating suspicion that they will repeat
these follies on the first opportunity, and so they resolve
to bear their losses with philosophical resignation, and
to hope for better luck next time.

One gratifying feature of this and recent Cup festivals
is the absence of that excessive " loudness" of dress in
which the lady visitors were once wont to indulge.
Time was when would- be leaders of fashion vied with
one another in publicly exhibiting themselves on the
lawn in front of the grand stand, bedecked in the
most gorgeous apparel that ill-regulated wealth could
procure. A Cup dress was an object of anxious
solicitude for many months, and all the resources of the
modiste's art were ransacked in the hope of discovering

162 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

more new and striking combinations of colour. It
would not be correct to say that this abuse is altogether
a thing of the past, but it certainly has been corrected
to a very considerable degree. Vulgar display is now
the exception rather than the rule, and the ambitious
female who ari-ays herself in garish garb so as to
attract universal attention generally finds that she has
overshot the mark, and feels herself unpleasantly
isolated and uneasy. There has been a commendable
re-action towards simplicity in style and quietness of
colour. On several grounds this change for the better
is to be coidially welcomed. Needless extravagance,
always to be deprecated, is particularly reprehensible
when deliberately practised by women of social position
who should be models for the imitation of their sex,
but who, too often, take a wilful pleasure in fiaunting
their finery in the faces of their humbler sisters.
Thoughtless imprudence of that sort on the part of the
rich and the haughty has bred riot and revolution in
the world before now, and, in these days of active
socialistic propaganda it is far from wise to obtrude
the possession of wealth by the fortunate few in so
objectionable a fashion before the eyes of the producers
of wealth — the hard-working many. Instead of being
puffed up with the pitiful ambition of being
objects of feminine envy, and of seeing their names
in the newspapers as the wearers of the queerest and
most expensive of costumes, women of station would
best fulfil their mission in life by earning the distinction
of honourable recognition in a legitimate and ladylike
manner. In the quiet fields of philanthropy, charity,

^.V AUSTRALASIAN FESTIVAL. 163

and Christianity, the true lady will find herself much
more at home than on the populous, feverish race-
course.

At night the city is given over to pleasures of every
description — some rational, some senseless. The
unlucky backers of anticipated " certainties" conceive
that they might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb,
and so they still further deplete their purses by
plunging into a variety of unlawful excesses. The
theatres are thronged to suffocation, and Bourke-street
is a moving mass of humanit}^ for thousands of rural
and intercolonial visitors find their principal delight
in walking aimlessly up and down the main artery of
the Victorian metropolis. A percentage of sufferers
from alcoholic exhilaration is perceivable, but the
cosmopolitan crowd is, on the whole, remarkably
decorous and well-behaved. The majority will, in all
likelihood, not revisit Melbourne for another year, and
they are making the most of their time in viewing
sights and gathering impressions. A considerable
section of them will be travelling homewards on the
morrow, and, by the end of the week, comparatively
few of them will be sojourners in the city. Does their
annual Cup excursion make them better or otherwise ?
It is difficult to determine. On the principle that
" Where ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise " one
might have wished that " along the cool, sequestered
vale of life" they had " kept the noiseless tenor of
their way," undisturbed by the distracting thought of
the great racing spectacle of the Southern Hemisphere,
and unfamiliar with its demoralising accessories. But,

164 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION

on the other hand, their lives may be appreciably
brightened by this periodical oasis in a monotonous
existence, this unwonted pleasure of mixing with so many
thousands of humankind under a cheerful Australian
sun, of revivifying old associations, of meeting with
long-separated friends, and of inhaling all the inspiriting
influences of the scene. Shakespeare assures us that
" The web of life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill
together," and it may be hoped that the good con-
stituents of the Cup Carnival are, after all, more
potent than the attendant ills, and that, when the sum
total is added up, there will be a -^itisfactory balance
to the credit of our Australasian festival.

POPULAR LITERATURE.

Never before in the history of the world has the
circulation of works of fiction been so astonishingly
large, or the craving for light literature evinced by the
public so intense, as in this nineteenth century of ours.
The producing power of the typical novelist of our day
would, a century ago, have been regarded as something
marvellous; but your popular author is now a
systematic business man, who allots himself a certain
period of time for the production of a particular work,
and carries out his programme to the l"etter. It is this
plan of labouring by hard-and-fast methodic rules,
such as Anthony Trollope has formulated in his " Auto-
biography," that enables the majority of contemporary
novelists to gratify their host of admirers with a
regular and unbroken series of works of tiction.
Novels meet our gaze everywhere — on the parlour-
table, at the railway-station, in the daily newspaper,
the weekly journal, and the monthly magazine. They
crowd the shelves of the booksellers' shops by the
thousand, and form the largest department of our
private and public libraries. They are procurable at
prices varying from a guinea to threepence, and are
thus adapted to the circumstances of all, the schoolboy
purchasing his Indian tale with the same facility that
the man of wealth obtains a superfine edition of
Thackeray or Scott.

166 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

We often hear it remarked by enthusiastic admirers
of the novelist's art that a work of fiction is a vehicle
for conveyincr instruction in a pleasing manner, in a
manner calculated to leave a more lasting impression
on the mind of the reader than would be produced by
the closest study. We are told that Sir Walter Scott's
novels have been the means of imparting a more
extensive knowledge of Caledonian history than was
effected by the labours of such indefatigable historians
as Robertson, Wilson, and Tytler. We are also re-
minded that Captain Mayne Reid's popular tales of
adventure have been instrumental in communicating a
wider knowledge of natural history than was supplied
by the standard manuals and appointed text-books on
that subject. Many other similar examples are adduced
by admirers of fiction with the object of proving that
the novel-reader is being instructed whilst, at the same
time, he is being entertained. Now, as this opinion
seems to be very generally accepted, it may not be
wholly without profit to inquire briefly into its
accuracy. In the first place, does the novelist recognise
it as one of the duties of his vocation to impart
instruction ? Or, rather, does he not regard it as his
province to entertain, and not to teach ? Most
assuredly he does. Experience Avill most likely have
taught him that to allow the element ot instruction to
predominate over that of pleasure is far from being a
good method for obtaining an extensive sale for his
])roductions. If such be the case (and that it is so is
beyond a doubt), it obviously follows that the imparting
of instruction must be secondarv, in the author's

POPULAR LITERATURE. 167

estimation, to the entertaining of the reader, and that
whatever facts, historical or otherwise, are embodied
in his work are inserted solely to subserve the principal
object. To prove this we have only to revert to the
examples previously cited. The reason why facts
pertaining to Scottish history are introduced into the
Waverley novels is that a certain amount of historical
knowledge is absolutely necessary to the thorough
comprehension of the plot. Similarly, in regard to
Captain Mayne Reid's tales of adventure, to enable his
readers to form an adequate conception of the " hair-
breadth 'scapes" of his heroes, he finds it necessary to
digress, as it were, in order to briefly describe the
natural history of the country in which the scenes of
his story are laid. It is, therefore, evident that the
comparatively little practical information found in the
generality of works of fiction is not primarily intended
by the author for the instruction of the reader, but
merely to assist him in comprehending the narrative.
And, if it is not the intention of the author to instruct
the reader, why should the reader regard the author in
the light of an instructor ? Why should he seek for
instruction whei-e instruction, in the true sense of the
word, is not obtainable ? He cannot gain more than
a superficial knowledge of Scottish history by reading
Waverley, and can acquire but a smattering of natural
history by perusing tales of adventure, however attrac-
tively written. And yet it is this fallacious argument,
this widespread delusion that the reading of fiction is
accompanied with the acquisition of sound knowledge,
that is adduced to justify the excessive and indis-

168 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

criminate novel-readingof our times. A misconception
fraught with a greater amount of danger it would be
difficult to conceive. The reader who labours under it
will gradually but certainly fall below the intellectual
standard of his day, and his mind will become so
enervated by irrational indulgence in light literature
as to be ultimately incapable of applying itself with
effect to anything of practical moment. Such a reader
is as unable to discriminate between the use and the
abuse of fiction as the opium-eater is between the use
and the abuse of the narcotic drug. An excessive
indulgence in opium operates most perniciously on the
body, and it is no less certain that as evil efiects are
produced on the- mind by the immoderate and
injudicious reading of works of fiction. The whole
subject may, in fact, be summarised in one sentence —
fiction should be read judiciously and moderately.
With respect to the former, Lord Roscommon con-
denses a great deal into a small compass when, in
his essay on " Translated Verse," he advises us to
" choose an author as you would choose a friend.''
This is an excellent rule, and one that should be
observed by every reader, particularly the reader of
fiction. If we exercise the same care in the selection
of our authors that we evince in the choice of our
friends, our reading will most certainly be productive
of good results. And then, as regards the moderate
reading of fiction, a constant remembrance of the well-
known proverb, "A time for everything, and everything
at its proper time," will be found exceedingly profit-
able. Let us ever remember that there is a time for

POPULAR LITERATURE. 169

profound reading and study, and after that a time for
mental relaxation, but never must we allow the latter
to encroach on the former. If we only keep steadily
before our eyes these two limitations, we shall be able
to walk with safety through the extensive garden of
fiction — a garden which, whilst containing many choice
flowers, is at the same time " tempting with forbidden
fruit."

And now to leave generalities and come to details.
There was recently published in the Pall Mall Gazette
a record of the professional experiences and observa-
tions of Mr. Stoneham, of London, the greatest
providore of popular literature in the world. From
the facts and figures supplied by Mr. Stoneham we are
able to gauge with almost absolute accuracy the
literary tastes of the age. He is the proprietor of
seven immense literary warehouses, planted in various
parts of London, the world's metropolis, and is, there-
fore, entitled to speak with authority on the question
we have been discussing. And what is the lesson that
his extensive experience has taught him ? Simply
that most people prefer novels and light literature to
any other description of reading. " Education," he
remarks, " has not improved their tastes, if you judge
by the demand for serious books." It is frequently
stated that the novels of Sir Walter- Scott, which were
the favourite literary food of a former generation, are
altogether too slow for our fast-moving age, and are, in
consequence, but rarely read now-a-days. But this
prevalent impression does not accord with the practical
experience of our great London bookseller, who assures

170 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

us that " all editions of Scott's novels sell by tens of
thousands." At the same time, it is equally true that
" the translations of the naturalistic school of French
novelists have always a big sale." This latter con-
fession is somewhat disquieting, inasmuch as it means
the diversion of a considerable quantity of the morbid
literature of the Parisian gutters into English-speaking
homes. Seeing that " Ouida" is declared to rank
amongst the most popular authors of the day, one
might have thought that there was quite enough of
this nauseous stuff compounded at home to save the
necessity of resorting to M. Zola and his followers for
a supply at secondhand. By way of antidote to the
dissemination of all this poisonous refuse,it is gratifying
to learn that George Eliot enjoys a large and steady
sale, " Adam Bede" and " The Mill on the Floss" being
naturally the best liked of her works. The gilt has
already been rubbed off the late Lord Beaconsfield's
ginger-bread novels. An essentially theatrical per-
sonage throughout his whole career, the artificial
sentimentality of his writings, which delighted his
manifold admirers when he was a striking figure in
the public life of the nation, now strangely resembles
the unilluminated scenery of the stage — a succession of
promiscuous daubs and thick patches of lifeless colour.
The place of Lord Beaconsfield in the literary market
now is designated in the expressive monosyllable
" slow." Charles Dickens retains his widespread
popularity, in spite of many confident predictions that
his works would prove of but temporary interest, and
would cease to attract with the triumph of the social

POPULAR LITERATURE. 171

reforms which they were a powerful means of effecting.
He may at times have written with a single eye to the
tastes of his own generation, and his types of humanity
may not be exact transcripts from nature ; neverthe-
less, there are appreciable elements of perpetuity in
almost all of that brilliant series of fictions which
claim Charles Dickens as their author. Thackeray,
too, than whom no writer since Shakspeare has made
a more complete study of human nature in all its
changing aspects, continues to be eagerly sought after,
"Vanity Fair," " The Newcomes," and "The Virginians"
having a constant succession of readers. Bulwer
Lytton is apparently receding in popular estimation-
and Captain Mayne Reid has also been somewhat
eclipsed in the arena where he once reigned supreme
by such novel and striking stories of adventure as
Mr R. L. Stevenson's "Treasure Island" and Mr.
H. R. Haggard's " King Solomon's Mines." Wilkie
Collins, by reason of his marvellous ingenuity in the
conception and development of complicated and
fascinating plots, will command a host of readers for
many a day ; and no one will be surprised to hear that
" The Woman in White" and " The Moonstone" enjoy
a perennial popularity. Neither will any one be
astonished to hear that those weird, unearthly tales
which the vivid imagination of Edgar Allan Poe has
bequeathed to the world, are read with avidity by that
large class of people who delight in feasting on horrors.
These persons are also the principal patrons of
Gaboriau, whose thrilling stories of crime are said to
be the favourite reading of Prince Bismarck, and to

172 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION'.

have an enormous annual circulation in Enofland.
Miss Braddon and Mrs. Henry Wood receive the
suffrages of a considerable section of the novel-reading
public ; but the great London bookseller unhesitatingly
pronounces the works written in collaboration by Mr.
Walter Besant and the late Mr. James Rice to have
achieved the widest popularity within his experience.
" The Golden Butterfly" and "Ready-Money Mortiboy"
are certainly cleverly-constructed stories, but iew were
aware that they had attained to this distinction.
" Uncle Tom's Cabin," by Mrs. Harriet Beecher-Stowe,
and " It is Never Too Late to Mend," by Charles
Reade, are two impressive sermon-stories that will be
never in want of audiences as long as sympathy with
suflTering and oppressed humanity survives in the
world. Lord Macaulay's " Essays," Oliver Goldsmith's
" Vicar of Wakefield," and Washington Irving's
" Sketch-Book" are classics which, it is pleasing to
learn, receive a patronage proportionate to their exalted
merits. The fact that Sheridan's " Plays" are included
in Mr. Stoneham's list of the best hundred books —
meaning best from a trade standpoint — may be taken
as evidence that popular appreciation of genuine
humour has not been entirely extinguished, despite the
demoralising and depressing influences of the so-called
" comic" stage in these latter days. Judging from Mr.
Stoneham's list, Charles Lever and Samuel Lover are
regarded by the reading public as the two representa-
tive novelists of Ireland. That such should be the case
is matter for grave regret. Lever's rollicking stories
and Lover's farcical creations, however amusing they

POPULAR LITERATURE. 173

may be to the general reader, are open to this very
serious objection, that they are calculated to perpetuate
and to intensify a stupid and mischievous conception
of Irishmen in general, which already prevails too
widely, and has produced more unpleasant consequences
than have appeared on the surface. Beyond all
question William Carleton is pre-eminently the popular
novelist of Ireland. It is true that at times he has
the bad taste to sneer at the religious practices of his
countrymen, but, apart from this ugly blot, which
occasionally mars his otherwise excellent work, his
writings are in the main distinctively national in their
character, and faithfully reproduce the lights and
shades of Irish life. It is somewhat surprising that
the name and the fame of Gerald Griffin are not better
known to his countrymen and to the reading world at
large. Several of Griffin's Irish stories are entitled to
rank in literary finish far above Carleton at his best ;
but it may possibly be that this very superiority of
style is actually a barrier to their general popularity.
Certainly, comparatively few of the thousands in this
city of Melbourne who not long ago applauded the
veteran Dion Boucicault in his well-known drama
"The Colleen Bawn," were aware that this favourite
play is only an acted version of Gerald Griffin's
powerful story of " The Collegians." On this same
story Sir Julius Benedict built an opera, " The Lily of
Killarney," which has become well-nigh as world-
renowned as the pla3^ Both the dramatist and the
composer were the recipients of money and fame, but
the original author, from whom they drew their

174 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

inspiration, went unrewarded, during his brief lifetime,
either by empty praise or solid pudding.

In this colony we have every reason to rejoice at
the intelligent foresight which dedicated a central
block of our capital to the purposes of a national
collection of popular literature. There is no pile of
buildings to which the people of Victoria can point
with a greater amount of laudable pride than that
situated in Swanston-street, and comprising the
National Gallery, Public Library, and Art Museum.
Collins and Bourke streets are adorned with many
triumphs of architectural skill, which invariably strike
with astonishment the visitor from the old world, who
cannot reconcile such an advanced state of progress
with the fact that fifty years ago a forest of gum-trees
occupied the site on which the bustling city now
stands. But his astonishment is changed into amaze-
ment when, leaving the two busiest thoroughfares of
the city, he enters the comparatively quiet Swanston-
street, and has his attention at once arrested by the
noble block of buildings to which reference has just
been made. He is astonished to find a collection of
books which will bear favourable comparison with
many of the world-famed libraries of older countries ;
a gallery of paintings, as yet only in its infancy, but
full of promise in the future; a museum of arts in
which the industrial resources of the colony are
displayed in the most complete and interesting manner ;
and a gallery of statuary, in which are exhibited many
excellent copies of those embodiments of classical
mythology which throw a halo round the names of

POPULAR LITERATURE. 175

ancient Greece and Rome; and won for them the high
title of " the homes of the arts." Yes, this is what
surprises every visitor from the home country. The
average European conception of Victoria is a place
where everyone is so busily engaged in gold-mining
and wool-growing that no time is available for the
cultivation of the refinements of civilisation. But the
first visit to the Public Library, Art Museum, and
National Gallery effectually removes that misconcep-
tion, and the visitor departs with the conviction that
the colonists fully subscribe to the belief of Words-
worth : —

"Books, we know,

Are a substantial world, both pure and good ;

Round these, with tendrils strong as flesh and blood,
Our pastime and our happiness will grow."

COMING TOGETHER.
That is what our Australasian colonies are slowly but
surely engaged in, and what they are certain to achieve
in good time. But some rashly importunate people
are not satisfied with the rate of progress, and are
excessively anxious to accelerate the general advance
towards the wished-for goal of federation. " The more
haste the less speed " is a maxim that applies with
particular force in this connection, and such headstrong
people should remember that a homogeneous nation is
the growth of years, and not the result of the forcing
process of a day. Owing to this ill-advised precipitancy
we have now a Federal Council only partially repre-
sentative of the colonies, the mother of the group
declining to occupy a seat in the family circle ; whereas,
had we possessed our souls in patience, and allowed the
situation to develop in its natural course, it would not
have been long before mother and sisters came together
of their own accord and formed a happy federated
family. But it is much to be feared that this devoutly-
to-be-wished-for consummation has been somewhat
retarded through the impolitic eagerness to clutch the
apple before it was thoroughly ripe.

It is now more than thirty years since a select
committee of the Legislative Council of New South
Wales first reported in favour of the formation of a
General Assembly to deal with questions affecting

COMING TOGETHER. 177

Australian interests, as distinguished from the local
concerns of each individual colony. Ever since, the
idea of an Australasian federation has been a sort of
floating sentiment in the public mind. There was a
prevailingnatural desire toconstitute a body empowered
to speak for and on behalf of the colonies at laro-e to
regulate all matters of national moment, and to be a
visible emblem of the unity of the race at the antipodes.
But the difficulty was to crystallise this floating
sentiment into action. The obstacles for a long time
were very discouraging, but they are all gradually
being removed. One of the greatest of them was the
distance intervening between the various colonies and
capitals, which induced and intensified isolation, and
obscured the conception of the higher national life.
But now, the rapid extension of railways in every
direction has placed the metropolitan cities of
Australia in the position of next door neighbours,
and the result has been a facility of personal
intercommunication and a constant interchange of
ideas, that have very appreciably promoted the process
of national consolidation. By coming together in this
fraternal spirit, colonists learned that they had a com-
munity of aspirations and of interests, and, without
any surrender of local independence, they could combine
when necessary for the general good. In short, they
began to realise the advantages of a commonwealth,
and that in itself was a great stride towards practical
federation. Some of them, it is true, have not yet
quite made up their minds to overturn those artificial
barriers which they once considered it prudent to erect

178 CHBISTMAS COLLECTION.

in self-defence, but which have now survived their
usefulness, if they ever had any. But the complete
removal of such useless barriers between our colonial
countrymen is only a question of time, and the day
cannot be far distant when all unnecessary restrictions
on intercolonial trade and commerce will be summarily
swept away. A policy of mutual trust will take the
place of the system of suspicious vigilance that for-
merly prevailed, and the colonies will -interchange
their natural products without any of the friction
arising from irritating imposts and inconveniences.

Foreign aggression in Australasian waters has proved
a potent factor in drawing the colonies closer together.
It gave them a forcible illustration of the old story of
the bundle of sticks, and taught them the salutary
lesson of the strength that resides in union. When
they saw an island on their coast, which they had
every reason to regard as their own, coolly partitioned
between themselves and a possl-Ie enemy in the future,
they realised, as they never did before, the supreme
necessity of standing shoulder to shoulder and pre-
sentiuff a united front to the .world. The loss of a
section of New Guinea was distinctly traceable to two
causes — the want of united action on the part of the
Australias, and the want of a backbone on the part of
the Imperial Secretary of State for the Colonies. Of
the two, the former was unquestionably the more disas-
trous in its results, for, had the colonies declared their
will in the matter unanimously, emphatically and
unmistakeably, no one can doubt for a moment that
New Guinea would to-day be an Australian dependency,

COMING lOQETHER. 179

whole and entire. United Australia would have spoken
with a voice that would be simply irresistible, and no
British Minister, however weak and flabby in com-
position, could possibly have surrendered with that
strong voice ringing in his ears. On the principle
of '•' once bit, twice shy," and in view of the
ever-present possibility of a recurrence of this
painful episode in our colonial history, it is not
surprising that the Australian native population
should have banded themselves together to resist
with determination any further foreign aggression
in their waters, and thus to prepare the way for the
sturdy all-embracing Australian Federation that cannot
much longer be delayed. It has also to be remembered
that Australian trade and commerce have now assumed
proportions that are calculated to attract undesirable
attentions in times of European conflict, and this
consideration is a powerful argument for the main-
tenance of a central federal authority, capable of
directing and controlling a well-planned scheme of
intercolonial defence.

The influence of a Federated Australia would extend
far beyond its geographical boundaries. Within, it
would elevate and dignify ; without, it would solidify
and strengthen. Colonial federation must necessarily
precede that larger and wider Imperial Federation
which it is the great aim of the highest statesmanship
of our time to secure. The foundation must be laid
before the superstructure can be commenced. With
each division of the empire organised and federated
within its own lines the idea of a really Imperial

180 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

Parliament, representative alike of the Great Britain
at home and the Greater Britain abroad, would come
down from the cloud-land of airy speculation in which
it has dwelt so long, gather form and substance, and
rapidly acquire a tangible existence. It would supply
the long-needed link to connect the scattered settle-
ments of our race the whole world over, and show them
that Imperial unity was something beyond a mere
high-sounding sentiment. Canada, Australia, South
Africa, India and Ireland, each would have its local
legislature, and each would be relatively represented
in that great National Assembly of the British race,
whose province it would be to deal with Imperial
affairs. They would all have their proportionate
voices in discussing and determining the broad general
policy of the empire, of which they form integral parts.
The present nominally Imperial Parliament would
doubtless strongly object to efface itself and its time-
honoured traditional privileges, in order to make room
for a National Assembly in the true sense of the term -
but it is vain to fight with the inevitable, and we
have now arrived at a period when no institution,
however venerable and historic, can be allowed to block
the path of truth and progress. The evil of the existing
state of things has been forcibly pointed out by a far
seeing statesman, Lord Carnarvon. "Elections," he
says, " are not to be won, or votes gained, or House
of Commons divisions turned, by a careful under-
standing of colonial questions ; and it is small wonder
that Bills and contentions which affect the fate
of parties should outweigh the consideration of

COMING TOGETHER. 181

measures which involve the distribution and adjust-
ment of Imperial forces, but which are thrown by their
geographical distance into comparative obscurity.
There is always great risk that in popular estimation
things small and present may overshadow things great
and remote." Experience has abundantly proved the
truth of these weighty words, and would amply justify
a radical alteration in a system that continually
subordinates the higher interests of the empire at
large to the domestic concerns of a part.

The federation of the colonies is, therefore, eminently
desirable, both for its inherent advantages and as a
stepping-stone to something greater and loftier still.
As Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, the father of Australian
federation, remarked many years ago, " the interest
and honour of these growing states would be promoted
by the establishment of a system of mutual action and
co-operation among them." In material interests they
would be great gainers by the adoption of a uniform
tariff, a complete plan of intercolonial defence, a general
scheme of ocean postage, and a colonial supreme court
of appeal, to take the place of the present cumbrous
and unsatisfactory method of carrj'ing cases in the
last resort to the Privy Council in England. In
honour, Australia would be raised in the estimation
of the world b}^ emerging from the chrysalis stage of
provincial existence into the fulness and freedom of
national life. But this crowning triumph can only be
the outcome of the spontaneous free-will of the Aus-
tralias, and nothing is gained by premature pressure.
Such movements, as Mr. Murray Smith told the Royal

182 CHR1ST3IAS COLLECTION.

Golonial Institute in London, "require popular support
and cannot be galvanised into existence. If they are
not inspirations, they are anachronisms." A great
occasion may arise to call a United Australia into
existence with magical suddenness, but the likelier
probability is that the colonies will continue to come
closer and closer together, and be unified almost before
they are conscious of the fact — that is to say, actual
federation will precede the proclamation of the formal
act of federation. It is the wiser and the safer course
to let this preparatory |jrocess proceed without inter-
ruption, to allow the colonies to become still better
acquainted with each other, and to educate the public
opinion of the Australasian group up to an adequate
conception of the coming event. Then will the colonies
have a correct appreciation of the step they are about
to take, and be prepared to enter on the duties and
responsibilities of a new-born nation.

A PLEA FOR A BETTER MELBOURNE.
Of late we have heard a irreat deal concernins the
relative importance of the two metropolitan Australian
cities — Melbourne and Sydney. Critics have been
instituting invidious comparisons between the two
capitals, and with prophetic presumption have under-
taken to award the palm of future supremacy
to the metropolis of the parent colony. That the
time will come when Melbourne will cease to be the
commercial emporium of the Southern Hemisphere,
and Sydney will be recognised as the chief of
the Australian cities, no loyal Victorian believes ;
at the same time it must be confessed that our
Sydney neighbours are working more systematically
and energetically towards the attainment of the
goal of supremacy than the dwellers on the banks
of the Yarra. For example, they are doing their utmost
to improve the external aspect of their city, by eradi-
cating the hovels and rookeries that served the purposes
of habitation in bygone and less civilised days. With
commendable zeal and determination the Mayors of
Sydney have personally inspected the by- streets, and
whenever they came across an old and dilapidated
domicile, ordered its immediate removal and the
erection of a more substantial building in its stead. In
Melbourne, though the necessity is quite as urgent on
grounds of health, cleanliness and order, no such
laudable effort of municipal zeal is to be noticed. Not to

184 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

mention the pestilential alleys and by-streets that make
the north-eastern section of the city proper a sort of
human warren and festering hot-bed of disease, we see
still standing in our two leading thoroughfares — in
Collins-street, the haunt of the fashionable, and Bourke-
street, the home of business — miserable ginger-bread
buildings, repulsive in their unsightliness, dangerous
in their dilapidation, unhealthy in their circumscribed
limits, and utterly incongruous in their surroundings.
Under a vigorous and active municipal regime these
dismal and unwholesome relics of the early days
would long since have disappeared, and edifices
symbolising the industrial and commercial progress
of the colony would be occupying the valu-
able sites they now disgrace and encumber. To
the artistic eye the aspect of Collins and Bourke streets
at the present time is most revolting, by reason of
violent contrast. A splendid banking edifice, or lofty
business establishment, is seen side by side with a
weatherboard abomination that might have been
transplanted from a Wimmera township in the chrysalis
stage of existence. There is just and reasonable
ground for complaint against the city corporation for
so long tacitly permitting this degradation of our
street architecture. It may be pleaded on their behalf
that they have no right or authority to interfere with
vested interests, or compel the individual to improve
his surroundings for the benefit and the reputation of
the coramunit3^ But, as custodians of the city,
solicitous for its progress, jealous of its privileges, and
desirous of its supremacy, they should exercise the

A FLEA FOR A BETTER MELBOURNE. 185

power so usefully and efficaciously wielded by their
Sydney municipal friends — the power of condemning
and destroying unsuitable buildings within their
JLirisdiction, of insisting on street uniformity, and
awakening metropolitan Rip Van Winkles to the fact
that the Melbourne of to-day is more exacting in its
requirements than the Melbourne of '52.

Passing from the material to the moral Melbourne,
we come to one of the great social problems of the hour
— how to deal with larrikinism and secure the preserva-
tion of order in the city and suburbs. No one will
deny that a " better Melbourne" would ensue if the
larrikin element of the population could be eliminated.
But how to eliminate that element is the difficulty.
The metropolitan and suburban magistrates in meeting
assembled saw no other course open than the employ-
ment of the lash. !No doubt many of the cowardly
assailants of defenceless men, women and children,
richly deserve a public flogging, but the proposal to
invest police or honorary magistrates with such a power
is open to "grave objection. The larrikin, it must be
remembered, is formed and fostered by social customs
and surroundings. A community that revels in
brutalising sports must be prepared for a crop of
brutes in due season, and it so happens that the most
popular of Melbourne sports — football — is the most
brutalising in its tendency. Many thousand persons,
including a large percentage of ladies, have been known
to assemble in this city on the occasion of a great
football match, and vehemently a])plaud the team with
the superior muscle. The player who succeeds in

186 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

giving an opponent a clever fall is rewarded by a
round of applause, and there is enthusiastic cheering
when a man makes a brilliant run and overturns five
or six who unsuccessfully contest his progress. All
this is perfectly right within an enclosure surrounded
by thousands of excited partisans, but when precisely
the same tactics are pursued elsewhere, when a
Collingwood policeman gets a " clever fall," or a well-
known civilian gets " overturned," oh ! then it is a
privilege no longer — it becomes an outrageous attack
by larrikins, and repressive measures are loudly
demanded. " Let him who is without sin cast the
first stone," was the reply given by the Saviour on
a memorable occasion, and to-day it may be said, " Let
him who never witnessed or applauded a brutalising
game be the first to threaten the larrikin with the
lash." If the elders of a community patronise ignoble
sports, if they lend their presence to degradiog pas-
times, if they unblushingly rejoice in the triumph of
muscle over mind, they may feel certain that their
chickens will soon come home to roost, or, in other
words, the growing j^ouths will better the instruction
and develop into fuU-fiedged larrikins.

Another element in the formation of the larrikin's
character is the prejudicial influence of the theatre.
Here in Melbourne, we have had enacted, in the
presence of hundreds of youthful spectators, plays
which, if not avowedly criminal in their tendency,
were certainly not written in the interests of law and
order. There is no censorship of the theatre in Vic-
toria as in England, and every manager is practically

A PLEA FOR A BETTER MELBOURNE. 187

at liberty to produce what he pleases. True, the
Chief Secretary has authority to cancel theatrical
licences, but the authority is never exercised on
the grounds of public morality and virtue, and
managers know well that, so long as they refrain from
satirising on the stage the little foibles of the reigning
Ministry, they have nothing to fear from official
censorship. If it were otherwise, a drama founded on
the cowardly misdeeds of a gang of outlaws, a drama
in which the guardians of the public peace were held
up to laughter and ridicule, a drama depicting crime
in attractive colours and suggesting the " romance of
the road," would never have fouud a place on the boards
of a respectable Melbourne theatre. Plays of the " Pink
Dominoes" and " New Babylon" type, that have had
lengthy and remunerative runs in this city, are equally
reprehensible for their vicious tendency. And yet,
with all these patent facts staring them in the face,
people pretend, with hypocritical surprise, to wonder at
the disorderly behaviour of young Australia. They go
to a football match and vigorously applaud a public
exhibition of brute fcni'ce, and then, with unpardonable
inconsistency, lift up their voices and write to the
newspapers when they hear of a similar exhibition
somewhere else to which no admission fee is charged.
Or they visit a theatre and support a play which is
a panegyric of lawless ruffianism, and are then
astonished to hear of a diabolical assault on tlie
city constables. From dress-circle and stalls they
gaze with rapture on the liberally displayed
charms of a gay adventuress, or revel in the

188 CHRIST 21 AS COLLECTION.

thinly- veiled indecency of the current comic opera,
and then ask how it is that they cannot take their
wives and daughters through Collins-street after dark.
Oh, yes ! legalise the lash by all means, but in the
name of common sense let it be distributed with even-
handed justice ; and if so, clergymen who, instead of
" going about doing good " like their Master, spend the
most of their time in splitting theological hairs ; magis-
trates who place characterless women in charge of
public-houses, notwithstanding the openly-expressed
objections of the police ; theatrical managers who are
guided in what they produce by the sole consideration,
will it pay ; and the thousands of regular patrons of
so-called " manly sports," these and many others will
be amongst the first to take their stand at the
triangles.

If we are to have a better moral Melbourne, let us
set to work at once, and remove the causes that have
induced the present disorder. So long as they exist
a regular periodical growth of larrikins may be safely
predicted. Our social conditions must be improved,
popular tastes corrected, and public abuses remedied.
The larrikin, ^it must not be forgotten, is the product
of his social surroundings, and these latter must be
altered if he is to be reformed. The agencies that
make him what he is must be eliminated without
delay. Above all, as the best precaution for the future
the moral and religious training of the young should
be insisted on by the State, instead of being utterly
ignored, as at present, A community that, by express
legislative enactment, has done what no other portion

A PLEA FOR A BETTER MELBOURNE. 189

of the Queen's dominions has dared to do, viz., to
practically prohibit the utterance of the name of God
in its schools, should not be surprised at its children
evincing but little respect for law and order. Victoria
has received the congratulations of continental
revolutionists on her having taken this leap in the
dark, but happily she has become conscious of the
danger of the situation, and is now beginning to retrace
her steps. The awakening, it is to be hoped, will be
productive of permanent good.

A COUNTRY POLITICIAN.

You see it was this way. John was about the quietest
man you could find for miles around the little township
of Arcadia. He was the locai storekeeper, minded
nothino; but his own business, and when the villaofe
gossips commenced to talk politics after making their
purchases, John never put in a word, or paid the least
attention to their diverse criticisms on Service and
Berry. In fact, he did not seem to understand what
politics meant ; he was one of those philosophical
easy-going individuals who never care a cent, what
party is in power so long as they are able to pay
current expenses. And John was able to do far more
than that ; he was the only storekeeper in the town-
ship ; there were a good many comfortable farmers in
the surrounding district ; so John, by all accounts, was
" well in," to use a bucolic expression equivalent to the
more orthodox commercial phrase, " having a hand-
some balance to your credit." John was frequently
urged to accept a seat in the Arcadia Shire Council ;
but to all these overtures he offered a steadfast
resistance. He even declined to become a member of
the Board of Advice, although assured of the fact that
there were no public duties attached to the office, as
most of these bodies never met from one year's end to
the other. Hevival meetings, temperance meetings,

A COUNTRY POLITICIAN. 191

indignation meetings, agricultural meetings, tea-
meetings — all could not tempt John Snupkins from
his blissful retirement. He kept on weighing his tea
and sugar, and taking cash over the counter in solemn
silence, with never a thought or ambition of appearing
in public.

But " what dire events from little causes spring !"
Every man makes a big blunder at some period of his
life, and when the mischief is done, and cannot be
repaired, he then begins to wonder what on earth
induced him to act so stupidly. So it was with John
Snupkins. A few of the advanced Kadicals of the
village put their heads together, and determined to
establish a branch of the Reform League in Arcadia.
One of them casually remarked that the Hon. Graham
Berry, if written to, might accept an invitation to be
present on the auspicious occasion, and, as a matter of
course, address the meeting. The idea was received
with unanimous approval. Mr. Berry was accordingly
communicated with ; and on the receipt of his reply,
the whole township was thrown into a state of
unprecedented excitement by the intelligence that the
" great leader of the Liberal party" was actually
coming to the distant village of Arcadia. Even John
Snupkins caught the prevailing infection ; and when
the rumour was circulated that John Snupkins, who
had never attended a meeting during the lifetime of
the oldest inhabitant ; John Snupkins, who had
faithfully resisted all previous attempts to induce him
to take a part in local affairs; John Snupkins, the
shrewd, the stern, the reserved — when it was

192 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

rumoured that John Snupkins had actually told a man
in the shop that he was going to the Reform League
meeting, the excitement increased tenfold. On the
eventful day the Reform Leaguers, thirteen strong,
went five miles up the road to meet the " Liberal
leader," and escorted him into the township. In the
evening the Temperance Hall, capable of holding 57
persons, was crowded to its utmost capacity ; and, in
the front seat, immediately under the platform, was
visible the well-known form of John Snupkins, the
observed of all observers, after Mr. Berry. Well, the
preliminaries were all duly carried out, the league was
formally inaugurated, and then Mr. Berry rose to
address the assemblage. He was in splendid form
that night; he never orated in more brilliant style,
never denounced the enemies of the people with
greater vigour, never deprecated the existence of large
estates with finer fervour, never extolled Protection in
more glowing periods, and never murdered the letter
H with more supreme self-satisfaction. But the
effect of the night's proceedings on John Snupkins
was something astonishing. He went home a changed
man ; he was under the spell of native eloquence ; and
Mr. Berry's visit was a turning point in his life. His
wife, an honest simple old soul, said, " She couldn't
make out at all, at all, what had come over John since Mr.
Berry visited the place. Before that unlucky Reform
meeting John was always attentive to his business ;
but now he couldn't be kept within doors, and even
at night she could hear him in his sleep mumbling
such words as ' the great heart of the people,'

A COUNTRY POLITICIAN'. 193

' unscrupulous oligarchy,' ' consolidated revenue,'
' curled darlings of the aristocracy,' ' Hupper 'Ouse,'
' the grinding down of the masses,' and many other
expressions that she could not make head or tail of".
She firmly believed that Berry had bewitched her poor
old man ; and, if she only had him for five minutes
she would give him a lesson he would not soon forget.
She'd teach him to come gallivanting about the
country, turning the heads of honest men, and
destroying the happiness of peaceful families." But
it was of no avail ; Berry had come and gone ; but he
had left the sting of his visit behind him. Poor John
Snupkins could no longer apply himself to business
after hearing that speech. Instead of minding his
shop, as in days of yore, he left the shop to mind
itself. A deputation from the newly-formed branch of
the Reform League waited upon him, and respectfully
requested his acceptance of the office of president. In
a very lengthy speech, resembling in style and con-
struction that delivered by Mr. Berry on the ever-to-
be-remembered inauguration night, John Snupkins
returned thanks for the compliment paid him by the
members, said he had at last been awakened to the
duty he owed his country, intimated his desire to
lead a more active public life in the future, and would
do his utmost to promote the interests of the Liberal
party in the honourable position to which they had
called him. Well, after this, John Snupkins took the
chair regularly at the league meetings, became
recognised as a leading local politician, and was rarely
seen behind the counter. Even the establishment of

194 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

a second and rival store in the township could not
arouse poor John to the necessity of watching his
business interests better ; and it was only after the
lapse of several months, during which the tide of
custom had set in towards the new shop, that he
began to see the error of his ways. Then poor John
threw up politics, resigned his position in the Reform
League, and resolved to give his whole mind and soul
to business once more. But it was too late, and John
Snupkins, ex-president of the Reform League, found
to his dismay that the great majority of his customers
had withdrawn their patronage on account of his
sacrificing their interests to his political ambition.
He staved off the inevitable as long as he possibly
could, but had to succumb to the force of circumstances
at last, and on the first anniversary of the " great
Liberal leader's" visit to Arcadia, the following
announcement was made public : —

"NEW INSOLVENT.
John Snupkins, Arcadia, storekeeper. Causes of
insolvency : — Berry blight, political insanity, and
misdirected zeal for the public good. Liabilities, £475
13s. 7d. ; assets, £1 ; deficiency, £474 13s. 7d. Moses
Zimmerman, official assignee."

What became of him ? Well, the ex-president of
the Reform League is now brea.king stones on a shire
contract, and if you have any care for your life, never
mention the name of " Graham Berry" in his presence.

MORAL.

Mind your own business, and let politics severely
alone.

THE HAPPY VALLEY.

Not the Abyssinian one in which Prince Rasselas was
confined, and of which Dr. Johnson has given us a
glowing description, but an Antipodean vale of felicity
a few miles distant from an old and important centre,
and yet but little known to its routine-living,
commercial-minded people. Softie of them, it is true,
do occasionally stumble upon the beauteous scene by
accident, and their good-luck is abundantly rewarded.
They are at first overcome with astonishment at the
delightful spectacle a thousand feet below, and are
amazed to think that they have dwelt so long near
this fairy spot, and yet were wholly unaware of its
existence. But once they make this most pleasurable
discovery, the radiant vision never fades from their
memories, and ever afterwards an excursion to the
Happy Valley becomes a favourite Sunday and holiday
recreation.

The valley is approached by an ordinary unfre-
quented road that gives no premonition of the })alace
of natural delights to which it conducts the wayfarer.
It is like that metaphorical path, mentioned in Holy
Writ, which leads to celestial bliss, but " few there are
who find it." After walking along this rough and
lonely w^ay for half-au-hour, the pedestrian suddenly
stands still in amazement, for the whole character of
the scene has changed as if by a magician's wand. The

196 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

transformation could not have been more rapid or
surprising if it were a complete vivification of a page
from the " Arabian Nights." The spectator who the
moment before was traversing an uninteresting and
monotonous road nowseesa lovely luxuriant dell opening
at his very feet. He finds himself standing on the
eastern verge of a deep semicircular valley about a
mile across, bounded on its farther side by a river
sparkling in the sunlight, and enclosed in other
directions by thinly-wooded uplands. Hundreds of
bright-hued native Australian birds are seen flitting
about from tree to tree, making the valley musical with
their unpremeditated concert, and kaleidoscopic by the
continuous changes of their wealth of colour. A few
cattle and horses may be discerned grazing on the
nutritious grass produced by the rich alluvial of the
valley, and an occasional peal of merry laughter denotes
the presence of an unseen children's party below, for an
orphan asylum is not very far away, and nothing
pleases the homeless little ones better than to be
allowed to visit the Happy Valley, and enjoy them-
selves at will in its quiet retreats. No doubt there is
something pathetically suggestive to the impression-
able child-mind in the name that has been so appro-
priately affixed to the place — a reminiscence of a
happiness that lingers in the memory, but is now no
more, when paternal solicitude and maternal tenderness
guided the footsteps of the growing infant.

Only two habitations are visible in this sequestered
spot. The one built on a little space hollowed out of
the side of a precipitous declivity is a rude hut, which

A HAPPY VALLEY. 197

commands a glorious view of the valley beneath, and is
tenanted by a mysterious personage known to the
outside world as " The Hermit," He is a strange-
looking being — a seeming reincarnation of an anchorite
of old, a venerable gentleman of misanthropical ten-
dencies. His principal garment is a forcible reminder
of the penitential shirt that was worn in the early
days of Christianity, and possibly the actuating
impulse of his secluded life may be found in a sincere
desire to imitate the strict rule of living and rigorous
self-denial that were once regarded as the highest ideal
of human existence. Or, in the poetical language of
Parnell, it may be that —

" Remote from man, with God he passed his days.
Prayer all his business, all his pleasure praise."

But in these suspicious times few people who go out
of the ordinary groove of existence get credit for good
intentions, and, therefore, it is not surprising that our
hermit is generally regarded less as a singular exemplar
of religious fervour than as a sort of harmless lunatic
whose eccentric mode of living need not be disturbed.
Others there are who will have it that he suffered some
grievous disappointment in early life and retired from
the world in consequence, whilst some who take a
romantic view of the situation make him the central
figure in some dark deed of the distant past. But
whatever may be the value of these gratuitous
speculations, certain it is that our hermit has kept
guard over the Happy Valley for many a year. Nobody,
in fact, is in a position to say that he was not its
original discoverer. At first he dwelt in truly

198 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

patriarchal fashion in a cave on the hillside, but he
afterwards coDstructed for himself that primeval hut,and
so added to its natural isolation as to render it almost
unapproachable to strangers. In selecting a site for
his humble abode he evinced the possession of an
artistic eye, for he fixed on a lofty position that
constituted him monarch of all he surveyed in the way
of scenery, and from which the best panoramic view of
the valley was to be had. Rarely, however, was he seen
outside his elevated retreat, and when he did appear
for a few moments on the little ledge at a giddy height
aloft, the laughing children in the valley below would
simultaneously pause in their play and gaze in silence
and awe on the mysterious being above.

A winding path from the vantage-point from which
we have been viewing this unexpected scene, leads us
down into the verdant valley, and conducts us to the
only other visible habitation, a pretty little cottage on
the bank of the shining river. It is occupied by a genial
elderly man, evidently at peace with himself, with the
world, and with all mankind; his pleasant-faced, sweet-
voiced, and warm-hearted wife, and their family of
joyous, healthy boys and girls, all engaged in
a judicious mixture of business pursuits with
the pleasures of residence in the Happy Valley.
They cultivate a few acres of the rich soil
around them, and attend to their cattle and horses,
revellincc in the luxuriance of orood things that the
valley affords. What a contrast between this happy
family group at one end of the valley, and the silent,
•secluded hermit at the other ! By day the former are

A HAPPY VALLEY. 199

seen alert and vivacious and good-humoured, whilst
the latter, if seen at all, is stern, speechless, and
repellent. And at night when the cottage is illu-
minated, and sounds of laughter and of music are
borne on the breeze, a solitary candle-light far away
up on the hillside is the sole indicator of the hermit's
abode. But the comfortable cottage labours under a
serious disadvantage from which the hermit's hut is free,
for there are times when the now gently-flowing river
is swollen by storm waters, and rushes and rages in a
torrent, and inundates the whole of the Happy Valley,
and even succeeds in climbing some distance up the
hill-sides, but never yet has it placed the hermit's hut
in jeopardy, though it has overwhelmed and destroyed
all the animal life in the valley that did not escape in
time. Well is it for the light-hearted residents of the
cottage that they know when the flood is coming, and
are able to remove themselves and all their belongings
to a place of safety, leaving nothing behind them but
the substantial framework of their house, which they
always find standing steadily in its old position after
the storm-waters have ceased to cover it, after they
have expended their forces and have sullenly receded
from the valley. The surging waters came to curse,
but were compelled to bless, and to leave the valley
brighter and fresher than when they intruded on its
fair domain.

It is on a Sunday afternoon in summer that the
valley looks its loveliest. For then the brilliant
splendour of an Australian sun illuminates its depths,
and brings out in distinctness of detail all its

200 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION.

variegated beauties. On such an afternoon the few
hundreds who have learned the secret of the Happy-
Valley become eager pilgrims to its incorruptible
shrine, and practise the universal devotion of " looking
through nature up to nature's God." Old folks are
seen walking along gravely until they reach an
eminence which commands a full view of the sun-
clad scene in the valley below. Then they seat
themselves, and with brightened eye and animated
face, follow with sympathetic pleasure every movement
of the youth and loveliness that are dispersed beneath.
Too old to descend into the valley themselves, they
find their greatest satisfaction in contemplating the
enjoyment of their ~ juniors. Middle-aged people, too,
are discernible. Their habit is to go about half way
down the winding road and take possession of some
convenient nook on the hillsides, where they alternate
for the afternoon between spasmodic reading, cheerful
conversation, and silent admiration of the wealth of
natural charms around them. But it is the young
people who take possession of the valley itself, and
ramble at will over its verdant area, strong in the self-
asserted rights of youth, energy, ambition and glowing
hope. Viewed from the eminence above, where the
aged ones are sitting, they are like butterflies sipping
the sweets of the valley. During the afternoon they
may be seen coming down the winding road in pairs,
and pausing at intervals to look around and exchange
words of surprise and admiration at each unfolding
beauty of the landscape. When the descent is accom-
plished they scatter themselves amongst the trees or

A HAPPY VALLEY. 201

linger by the sparkling river, evidently engaged in
weaving plans for a blissful future that many of them
are destined never to see, and enjoying in anticipation
a number of prospective but improbable pleasures
suggested by their present happy but short-lived
surroundings. Short-lived ! Yes, for see, the sun is
sinking in the west, and already a lengthening shadow
is creeping over the Happy Valley. Soon one-half is
in thick shade, whilst the other is resplendent in golden
sunshine. Alike the philosophic old on the heights,
the contented middle-aged on the hill sides, and the
ardent young in the valley, recognise the signal and
prepare to depart. As they are quitting the darkening
scene the venerable hermit appears on his rocky ledge,
and with thoughtful mien gazes on the retreating pro-
cession. They are returning to that world from which
he is banished, and leaving him once more for a season
in charge of the vale of happiness. Simultaneously
from the cottage at the farther end of the valley come
sweet sounds of choral music, the harmonious echoes of
family worship. And now every visitor has vanished,
and the sun himself has gone down in the midst of a
brilliant golden haze. " 'i is night, and the landscape is
lovely no more," an all-pervading stillness supervenes
on the moving spectacle of this Sabbath afternoon, and
the Happy Valley fades from our longing sight. But
not for ever,

"For mom is approaching its cliarms to restore,
Perfumed with fresh fragrance and glitt'ring with dew."

And can we not learn something from the scene on
which we have been gazing, something that will be a

202 CHRISTMAS COLLECTION'.

permanent memorial of the feelings of the hour ?
Whether we be lonely hermits working silently on the
hill-sides of life, or companionable toilers in the open
space below, can we not create a Happy Valley all
around us ? Can we not so perform our daily avocations
as to confer the maximum of pleasure and the
minimum of pain, and not permit the personal element
in our nature to ride roughshod over the collective
good ? Were we only to recognise in all its sublime
fulness the grand Christian ideal of the brotherhood of
humanity, the sum total of earthly happiness would be
immensely increased by our daily contributions. And
it is just because that great cardinal doctrine is
practically ignored by the majority of professing
Christians, that so much virulent class-hatred and so
many appalling social contrasts abound. It is because
the individual forgets his responsibility to the mass,
and, in the pompous pride of the passing hour, thinks
that he is the whole machine and not a part. He never
reflects that the well-being and stability of the social
fabric are dependent on the mutual voluntary cohesion
of its component parts, and, when these do not act in
unison, or are in a condition of incessant chafing,
disputes and disturbances in the body politic must
ensue. A wide fraternal sympathy is the certain
cure for all such social ills, the best of all peace-
makers between contending interests, and the only
court of conciliation whose decrees will win enduring
respect. And there is cause for general grati-
fication that this wholesome truth is beginning to be
realised and acted on, that erstwhile separated classes

A HAPPY VALLEY. 203

are drawing nearer by degrees, and discovering that
after all their interests are alike. Such welding process
will give a new and loftier reading to the sententious
couplet of Pope :—

" In faith and hope the world will disagree,
But all mankind's concern is charity."

When charity shall become thus sublimated, reduced

to practice in the work-a-day world, and intertwined

with all social relationships, it will not be long before

all men shall be seen frequenting the Happy Valley of

life.

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